3/9/2018

AUSTRALIA/CHINA/JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “From Japan and South Korea to Australia and Europe, officials lined up on Friday [3-9-18] to seek exemptions from President Donald Trump’s tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports, while Chinese producers called on Beijing to retaliate in kind. … South Korea, the third largest steel exporter to the United States and a strategic ally on the Korean peninsula, called for calm. ‘We should prevent a trade war situation from excessive protectionism, in which the entire world harms each other,’ Trade Minister Paik Un-gyu told a meeting with steelmakers. While carrying a message to Washington to push forward a diplomatic breakthrough over North Korea, South Korea’s national security office chief Chung Eui-yong asked U.S. officials to support Seoul’s request for a waiver, a presidential spokesman said.”

– Robin Emmott, Ruby Lian, Aaron Sheldrick, “U.S. allies line up for exemptions from Trump’s tariffs,” Reuters, Mar. 9, 2018 3:53am