Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Thursday that he’d told U.S. officials that Seoul is not intentionally delaying legislation necessary to implement its investment pledges to the U.S., which Washington has cited as a factor behind its threat to raise tariffs on South Korean goods.

Speaking at a meeting with South Korean reporters at the South Korean embassy in Washington, Cho said he’d made the statement to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday, his first day in the country.

Cho said Rubio shared concerns about “negative sentiment” within the U.S. over South Korea’s delays in implementing trade-related commitments and had stressed the need to prevent such issues from spilling over into broader bilateral relations.

Cho said he’d responded by reaffirming Seoul’s commitment to implementing bilateral agreements and emphasized that South Korea is not intentionally delaying related legislation. 

The top diplomat also said that during a U.S.-led ministerial meeting about critical minerals on Wednesday in Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had urged South Korea to make progress on nontariff barrier issues.

In talks with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Cho said the two sides had reaffirmed the need for progress on uranium enrichment, spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and nuclear-powered submarines.