Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo is set to visit Washington as early as next week to seek ways to enhance bilateral cooperation after U.S. President Donald Trump called South Korea "a country with more unfair tariffs against American products than China."

According to government sources on Thursday, trade authorities from both sides are in the process of arranging a meeting between Cheong and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer next week at the earliest.

During the upcoming visit, Cheong will focus on clearing up the Trump administration's misconceptions about Seoul's tariffs on American products, which is practically zero percent under the bilateral free trade agreement(FTA).

The minister also intends to seek to ease Washington's concerns over Seoul's non-tariff barriers ahead of Trump's reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2, emphasizing that it is considering  improving existing regulations.

The trip would come some two weeks after Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun's visit for talks on tariffs and the allies' industrial cooperation.

Earlier this week, Ahn had hinted at the trade minister's U.S. trip to follow up on the allies' agreement to establish various consultative bodies on shipbuilding, energy, the Alaska gas pipeline project and non-tariff barriers.