Anchor: Executive orders from U.S. President Donald Trump went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday Eastern Standard Time, introducing 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional ten percent tariff on Chinese imports. While many South Korean manufacturers previously avoided U.S. tariffs by establishing production bases in Canada or Mexico, Trump’s move has left them scrambling for solutions.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
 
Report: U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that there was no room for last-minute negotiations to stop his imminent tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
 
[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump]
(Reporter: “On the tariffs, is there any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a deal before midnight? And should we expect those Chinese tariffs, the extra ten percent, to take effect?”)
“No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No, the tariffs, you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow.”

Trump also signed an executive order on Monday imposing an additional ten percent tariff on China, bringing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to a total of 20 percent.

[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump]
“So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things, in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
“And I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico, if they’re going to build car plants, the people that are doing them are much better off building here because we have the market, we’re the market where they sell the most. And so I think it’s going to be very exciting, very exciting, for the automobile companies.”

According to the local corporate data firm Korea CXO Institute, 25 major South Korean conglomerates operate 201 local subsidiaries in Canada and Mexico, which until now meant tariff-free trading with the U.S. 
 
They include 68 Samsung Group subsidiaries, 50 in Canada and 18 in Mexico; and 28 subsidiaries of Hyundai Motor Group, 12 in Canada and 16 in Mexico.
 
The institute expects South Korean automobile, car battery and home appliance companies with manufacturing plants in the two countries to lose price competitiveness in the U.S. market due to the tariffs.
 
And according to a report released last month by the Korea International Trade Association, the combined effects of the U.S. tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico could lower South Korea’s total exports this year by 220 million U.S. dollars compared with last year.

While strengthening local production in the U.S. is one possible strategy to minimize those losses, another might be to diversity their export markets.

Now that Trump’s tariffs are in place, South Korean manufacturers that relied on Canada and Mexico as a way around U.S. protectionism have little time to waste to come up with a new plan.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.