Washington (TDI): The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has announced that the cost of the US troops stationed in South Korea and Japan would be part of the tariff negotiations.
The announcement was made by President Trump on his social media account, despite the desire of South Korea and Japan to separate the security talks from tariff negotiations.
He stated that the discussion on the cost of US troops would be part of “one-stop shopping” negotiations.
Nearly 50,000 American troops are stationed in Japan as part of US’s security umbrella against China, North Korea, and Russia.
Likewise, South Korea hosts 28,500 US troops as a security guarantee.
During President Trump’s first term, he continuously warned Japan and South Korea of the intent to withdraw the US troops if the countries refused to pay the cost.
Read More: China, US Tariff War or an Excuse to Re-negotiate Trade Terms
However, the First Vice Foreign Minister of South Korea, Kim Hong-Kyun, stated in the National Assembly on Wednesday that the United States has not officially proposed renegotiating the Special Measure Agreement (SMA) under which the US troops are stationed in the country.
The Finance Minister of South Korea also stated that the negotiations on cost sharing of US troops were not under consideration.
On the other hand, Japan has also said that the discussions on the cost of US troops, and tariff negotiations were originally separate issues and therefore, should not be discussed together.
According to Danny Russel, Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), reopening the defense talks was a deliberate pressure tactic by President Trump.
He further commented, “Trump has made clear he sees alliance relationships as transactional and is determined to extract an economic payoff commensurate with the value of the U.S. defense umbrella.”
Read More: US Says China Faces 245% Tariffs
Before the US elections last year, the outgoing US President, Joe Biden, and South Korea hurriedly signed a new five-year Special Measure Agreement (SMA), under which South Korea would increase its contribution towards keeping the US troops to $1.47 billion during the first year.
According to Bruce Klingner, an Analyst at the US-based Heritage Center, “Seoul renegotiated the SMA a year early in order to lock in more beneficial terms prior to Trump’s re-election.”
“Having the defense agreement re-opened and linked to broader economic and trade issues will exacerbate South Korean concerns of the economic concessions it may need to make as well as the continued viability of the U.S. defense commitment,” he commented.
It is important to note that last week, the Commander of the US Forces in Korea as well as the General-in-Charge of all US troops in the Indo-Pacific region praised the contributions of South Korea to the US defense budgets by making large purchases of US warplanes and weapons.
Javaria Khalid is a Web Contributor at The Diplomatic Insight Magazine. She specializes in covering geopolitical developments, international relations, diplomatic, and socio-economic developments in Europe and Pakistan.
