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The Peninsula
Q3 2025 U.S.-Korea Trade, Investment, and Diplomacy Ledger
As Korea entered Q3 2025 committed to finalizing a trade deal with the United States, investment pledges and purchase commitments became a defining feature of the U.S.–Korea agreement. President Trump and President Lee Jae Myung’s July 31 meeting resulted in Korea announcing a USD 350 billion investment fund, including USD 150 billion for shipbuilding. President Lee’s August visit to the United States made several of these pledges a reality, as Korean companies signed deals with U.S. counterparts across technology supply chains, batteries, pharmaceuticals, aviation, and energy—showcasing the strength of the U.S.–Korea economic relationship.
Q3 2025 also saw substantial engagement between the Donald Trump and Lee Jae Myung administrations, including a face-to-face summit in late August. Weeks earlier, Washington and Seoul agreed to a 15 percent tariff rate on South Korean goods entering the U.S. market. In September, President Lee addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, as ongoing negotiations on trade, investment, and security policy continued.
A list of major Q3 deals and partnerships is included below, followed by a timeline of U.S.–Korea diplomatic meetings from the quarter.
| Date | Event Summary |
|---|---|
| September 30 | Inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Korea Business Travel and Visa Working Group involving U.S. Department of State Senior Bureau Official for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kevin Kim and Korean Ambassador and Government Representative for Korean Nationals Overseas Protection and Consular Affairs Jung Kihong to discuss bilateral cooperation. |
| September 23 | While attending the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Minister of Trade Yeo Han-koo holds a bilateral meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss South Korea’s investment package in the United States and other trade issues. |
| September 21–25 | President Lee Jae Myung visits New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. He also meets U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss the U.S.-Korea USD 350 billion investment fund. Bessent also meets Korean Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol on September 24, followed by a U.S.-Korea joint statement on September 30 on sharing currency-market intervention data, which Korean officials indicated as groundwork for a potential currency swap agreement. On September 22, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun, and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya hold a trilateral meeting in New York, releasing a joint statement that covers U.S. extended deterrence commitments, security cooperation, North Korean denuclearization, supply chain resilience, critical and emerging technologies, and further advancing trilateral cooperation. While in New York, Lee meets Representative Young Kim (R-CA), Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), and Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) to discuss improvements to U.S. visa processes and security issues on the Korean Peninsula. Lee also meets with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to discuss AI and renewable energy. |
| September 16 | Korean chief trade negotiator Yeo meets with Ambassador Greer in Washington, DC, and holds talks on tariffs. They also discuss U.S.-bound investments from South Korea, including the “MASGA” shipbuilding project. |
| September 11–14 | South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan holds follow-up discussions with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in New York regarding the U.S.-South Korea trade deal and terms of the USD 350 billion investment fund. |
| September 10 | Secretary of State Rubio meets with Foreign Minister Cho in the United States. They discuss the advancement of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, South Korean investments in the United States, and their shared commitment to addressing threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. |
| August 27 | Following a trilateral public-private event hosted with Mandiant in Tokyo on countering North Korean cyber operations, the United States, South Korea, and Japan release a joint statement on their coordinated actions to defend against the risks posed by North Korea’s use of overseas IT workers. |
| August 24–26 | Korean President Lee Jae Myung visits the United States and holds official bilateral summit with President Trump, discussing terms of the U.S.-Korea trade deal. President Lee also delivers a speech at Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), presides over a U.S.-Korea Business Roundtable, and visits Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the announcement of major Korean shipyard investments. |
| August 22 | Secretary of State Rubio meets with Foreign Minister Cho in Washington, DC, to discuss advancing the U.S.-South Korea alliance, defense burden-sharing, Korean investments in the United States, trade issues, and U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral cooperation. |
| August 18–19 | U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) lead a Senate delegation to South Korea. They meet with Industry Minister Kim in Seoul, where they discuss measures to expand bilateral cooperation and increase investment between the countries. They also meet with Foreign Minister Cho, Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back, and President Lee. |
| August 14 | During a visit to South Korea, U.S. Representatives Richard McCormick (R-GA) and Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) meet with Defense Minister Ahn to discuss the U.S.-South Korea alliance and security issues. |
| July 31 | Secretary of State Rubio meets with Foreign Minister Cho in Washington, DC, where they discuss the U.S.-South Korea alliance, supply chain resiliency, critical and emerging technologies, the U.S.-South Korea trade deal, U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral cooperation, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, North Korean security issues, and President Lee’s August visit to Washington. |
| July 30 | Finance Minister Koo meets with Treasury Secretary Bessent in Washington, DC, for trade negotiations. The United States agrees to lower the previously announced reciprocal tariff from 25 percent to 15 percent, while South Korea agrees to make a USD 350 billion investment in the United States. |
| July 7 | South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac meets with U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Adviser Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, to discuss prospects for a U.S.-South Korea summit, progress toward reaching a deal on tariffs, commitment to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and deepening cooperation on shipbuilding. |
| Date | U.S. Entity | Korean Entity | Project | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 30 | L3Harris | Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) | Selection of L3Harris to provide airborne control aircraft to the Korean military. | N/A |
| September 24 | Perplexity AI | Mirae Asset Global Investments | $110 million investment by Mirae into Perplexity. | N/A |
| September 23 | BlackRock Inc. | Ministry of Science and ICT | MOU for global AI partnerships, including hyper-scale AI data centers in Korea. | N/A |
| September 23 | Eli Lilly | Celltrion | $330 million purchase of Eli Lilly’s New Jersey pharmaceutical plant. | Branchburg, New Jersey |
| September 18 | ReElement Technologies | POSCO International | MOU to explore cooperation on rare-earth and magnet production complex in the U.S. | N/A |
| September 17 | Boeing | Korean Air | Strategic partnership for predictive maintenance systems. | N/A |
| September 11 | Glenfarne | POSCO International | Partnership for Alaska LNG pipeline—steel supply, LNG offtake, and investment. | Alaska, United States |
| September 22 | iHerb | Lotte Global Logistics North America | Partnership on automated fulfillment center. | Denton, Texas |
| September 9 | American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) | Hanwha Systems; Hanwha Ocean; Hanwha Power Systems | Joint research collaboration on U.S. maritime cybersecurity regulation. | N/A |
| September 9 | Undisclosed pharmaceutical company | Samsung Biologics | $1.3 billion manufacturing contract extending through 2029. | N/A |
| September 4 | Rutile Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Project | HD Hyundai Electric | Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract. | Runnels County, Texas |
| September 4 | Undisclosed Data Center | LG Electronics | Cooling service contract for hyperscale AI data center in the U.S. | United States |
| September 4 | ConverDyn | Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) | Long-term supply contract for converted uranium. | N/A |
| September 2 | Undisclosed biopharma company | Lotte Biologics | Contract manufacturing partnership. | N/A |
| August 27 | Hanwha Philly Shipyard | Hanwha Group; Hanwha Shipping | $5 billion shipyard investment; tanker and LNG carrier orders. | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| August 26 | Electric Power Research Institute | KHNP | International Cooperation Agreement for engineering education. | N/A |
| August 26 | Centrus Energy Corp. | KHNP | MOU for cooperation in uranium enrichment investment. | N/A |
| August 26 | Vigor Marine Group | Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) | Strategic partnership for MRO services to U.S. Navy and MSC. | N/A |
| August 26 | N/A | Hyundai Motor Group | $5 billion increase to U.S. investment through 2028 for steel and robotics. | United States |
| August 26 | Lockheed Martin | Korea Zinc | MOU for supply and procurement of germanium; critical minerals cooperation. | N/A |
| August 25 | Boeing; GE Aerospace; CFM International | Korean Air | $50 billion purchase for aircraft and engine maintenance programs. | N/A |
| August 25 | Amazon; X-energy; Fermi America | Doosan Enerbility; KHNP | MOUs on SMR and nuclear development cooperation. | N/A |
| August 25 | Cheniere Energy; others via Trafigura | Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) | Agreement for U.S. LNG supply through Trafigura offtake deals. | N/A |
| August 25 | Cerberus Capital | HD Hyundai / Korea Development Bank (KDB) | MOU for multi-billion U.S.–Korea shipbuilding investment program. | N/A |
| August 18 | Bartlett International | POSCO International | Agreement to expand grain trading to 4 million tons per year by 2027. | N/A |
| August 19 | Amazon Web Services | Upstage | Strategic collaboration for Upstage to use AWS as preferred cloud provider. | N/A |
| August 6 | Apple | Samsung | Apple working with Samsung Austin facility to produce chips. | Austin, Texas |
| August 6 | General Motors | Hyundai Motor Company | Announcement on co-developed vehicles. | N/A |
| August 4 | N/A | Daedong | Establishment of integrated logistics warehouse for North America. | Tacoma, Washington |
| August 1 | Amazon Web Services | Hyundai Steel | Strategic Framework Agreement to enhance cloud integration in Korea. | Korea |
| July 30 | Tesla | LG Energy Solution | $4.3 billion deal for LFP battery supply (2027–2030). | N/A |
| July 27 | Tesla | Samsung | $16.5 billion contract for semiconductor supply. | Austin, Texas |
| July 20 | Honeywell | LG CNS | Cooperation to develop manufacturing execution system (MES) for U.S. market. | N/A |
| July 18 | UCLA School of Dentistry | Dongwoon Anatech | Collaboration to advance saliva-based cancer detection technology. | N/A |
*Sourced from a review of Korean government press releases from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), the Ministry of National Defense (MND), and media reports.
Photos from from the White House, Department of State.
Tom Ramage is Economic Policy Analyst at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Soobeen Park is a Research Intern at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). The views expressed are the authors’ alone.