USTR pledges to honor tariff caps in trade deals amid forced-labor probe

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday that Washington will honor the tariff caps set in its trade agreements with South Korea, the EU and Japan, even as his office proposed new levies on 60 countries over alleged forced-labor enforcement failures, The Korea Times reported.

The assurance is closely watched by Orange County's Korean-American business community, as South Korea faces a proposed 12.5 percent tariff under a separate forced-labor investigation — a potential complication atop the bilateral deal that already cut Seoul's reciprocal rate from 25 percent to 15 percent last year.

Greer made the remarks during a press availability at an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris, according to The Korea Times, which cited reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg. His statement came as concern mounted that new U.S. trade investigations could push effective tariff rates above the ceilings already negotiated with key trading partners.

"We understand that a deal is a deal," Greer said. "We want to make sure that we are able to resolve the trading practices that are identified as problematic in our investigations and we're going to take into account the Turnberry deal, of course."

The USTR proposed tariffs of 10 or 12.5 percent on goods from 60 trading partners over what the office described as a failure to enforce import bans on forced-labor products. South Korea was placed in the higher bracket, facing a 12.5 percent levy under that proposal.

Under last year's bilateral trade agreement, South Korea's reciprocal tariff rate was lowered from 25 percent to 15 percent. As part of that arrangement, Seoul committed to investing $350 billion in the United States. The new forced-labor investigation is separate from that agreement but has raised fears the effective tariff burden on Korean goods could climb above the negotiated cap.

The U.S. is also conducting separate investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act related to structural excess capacity and production among trading partners. The moves come as Washington works to replace its broader reciprocal tariff framework after the Supreme Court struck it down in February 2026.

The outcome of the parallel investigations — the forced-labor probe and the Section 301 reviews — combined with the terms of the existing bilateral deal, is expected to shape U.S.-South Korea trade relations for months ahead.