US imposes 50% tariffs on home appliances…Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy holds emergency meeting = Korean media

The US Department of Commerce announced on the 12th (local time) that it would add home appliances to the list of products subject to 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum and their derivatives, and the South Korean government held an emergency meeting with the home appliance industry on the 13th.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, an emergency impact assessment meeting was held at the Korea Productivity Center in Seoul in the afternoon, chaired by Director General for Industrial Policy Lee Seung-ryul.
Attending the event were representatives from industry, including Musung Electronics, LG Electronics, Shinsung Delta Tech, and Mirae Korea, as well as support and research organizations such as the Electronics Industry Promotion Council, the Korea Trade Association, KOTRA, and the Korea Research Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
The Trump administration in the United States has imposed 25% import tax on steel, aluminum and derivatives that use these products since March of this year, based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows it to restrict the import of certain items for national security reasons.
% tariff. Following the tariff hike to 50% this month, the government also announced plans to apply a 50% tariff to home appliances, including derived products, from the 23rd of this month.
The measure covers most household appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, freezers, cooking stoves, microwaves, ovens and food waste disposal machines.
Currently, a basic national reciprocal tariff of 10% is imposed, and a reciprocal tariff of 25% was scheduled to be imposed from the 9th of next month, but this has resulted in a sudden and large increase in the tax rate.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is currently investigating and providing support to the home appliance industry and its small and medium-sized partner companies, centering on the home appliance industry joint response task force that has been established.
A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official said, "Home appliances are a diverse range of items, and the impact of tariffs on each item varies. We will closely monitor the US's movements while also considering the impact at home and abroad."
We will closely monitor the situation and discuss countermeasures."