Trump hails probability of a ‘great deal’ with South Korea after call

President Donald Trump said he discussed tariffs, shipbuilding and potential energy deals in a "great call" with South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo on Tuesday, a day before a 25% tariff on the Asian ally is scheduled to kick in.

"We have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good," Trump said.

South Korea's trade minister is traveling to the United States to meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for negotiations over tariffs.

Earlier on Tuesday, Han said in an interview with CNN that he would "clearly like to negotiate" with the United States over reducing tariffs and that his country would not band together with China, Japan or other countries to retaliate.

Cheong In-kyo, Minister for Trade, said on Tuesday that the government has been considering measures to increase imports from the United States as he headed to Washington to negotiate.

Cheong also said it was good news ahead of his visit that Trump said the door was open for talks over tariffs with nations other than China.

"It is difficult to reduce exports, so shouldn't we then increase (U.S.) imports? In that regard, we have been reviewing many different packages of measures to resolve the trade balance problem," Cheong said, before flying to Washington.

He noted that the government had had internal discussions about increasing LNG imports from the United States.

Cheong added he will dispute Washington's calculation of its 25% tariff on South Korea, which he called "problematic" given the two countries' existing free trade pact.

Trump also announced a 46% duty for Vietnam, where major South Korean conglomerates like Samsung and LG manufacture products. That will deal a "huge blow" to South Korean exporters with production bases there, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said on Tuesday.