President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on a dozen other countries.

The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

While South Korean imports to the U.S. face 25% tariffs, the same as Trump promised in April, the rate on Japan has been raised by 1 percentage point to 25%.

Japan and South Korea, the United States’ closest security allies in Asia and key partners in its effort to counter China, were sent scrambling Tuesday after the U.S. president renewed his threat to impose steep tariffs on their goods,

In letters so far to 14 countries, including smaller exporters to the United States such as Serbia, Thailand and Tunisia, Trump hinted at opportunities for additional negotiations, even while warning that reprisals would draw a like-for-like response.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met counterparts in Southeast Asia during his first visit to the region since taking office.

South Korea has proposed a comprehensive package encompassing economic and security aspects in its tariff negotiations with the United States. National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac suggested a presidential summit to further discussions.

It shows that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the U.S. leader’s use of tariffs.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he's imposing a 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea beginning on August 1 as the Republican continues his pressure campaign on longtime U.S ...

South Korea will follow terms previously agreed with the United States on defence cost sharing, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, following a call by U.S. President Donald Trump for Seoul to pay more for the U.