Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun, fourth from right, talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, second from left, during his visit to Washington D.C., Friday (local time) to discuss the commercial partnership between the two countries. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun said Tuesday the biggest success in his trip to the United States last week was establishing a bilateral communication channel ahead of other countries, allowing Korea to engage in trade policy negotiations with the Donald Trump administration.

Ahn told reporters in Sejong that the communication channel was formed to discuss cooperation in areas such as shipbuilding, energy policies, crude oil and gas reserves development in Alaska and tariff policies. He added that the channel is composed of working-level officials from both sides.

“The kickoff meeting between both counterparts will take place as soon as possible, either via video conference or in person. There will not be any procrastination,” Ahn said. “Exchange of dialogue and information will take place on a daily basis.”

Ahn's U.S. visit coincided with those of leaders from other countries who also lined up to meet Trump, including French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a scene the minister described as “bustling like a war zone.”

The key schemes for the new bilateral communication channel represent Korea's most promising trade deals with the Trump administration, according to Ahn. He said the U.S. government is betting big on the Korean shipbuilding industry to strengthen its naval force, while the Korea government is also trying to further diversify countries to import energy from beyond the Middle East for stronger energy security.

Ahn added that while the U.S. government is also mulling commercial partnerships with Japan, Taiwan, China and India for its Alaskan energy development, Korea imports its largest volume of liquefied natural gas from the U.S.

As to tariffs, the minister said he has not received any definitive answer from the U.S. government, but expects updates through the communication channel.

“Some information they had regarding Korea was outdated or false, like how the Trump administration now plans to adjust tariffs on the U.S. lumber imports from Canada and tried to extend the measure to also affect China and Korea. This perception's origin dates back to the first Trump administration (during 2017-21) and is no longer valid. I straightened out all misunderstandings,” Ahn said.

“At this point we don't know how the Trump administration will play out its trade policies in the long term. So what's most urgent now is to secure a communication channel and keep negotiating in favor of our (Korean) firms.”

While in Washington, Ahn met with key U.S. decision-makers in commercial sectors, including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.