Leaders from five major industries, including automobiles and semiconductors, expressed their deep concerns about the emerging risks from Donald Trump’s presidency across their fields at a meeting with Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s acting president, acting prime minister and minister of strategy and finance. The government promised to support cutting-edge industries by creating a “cutting-edge strategic industry fund” program worth 34 trillion won in the year’s first quarter.
On Wednesday, the government held a meeting of ministers related to industrial competitiveness, presided over by Action President Choi, to listen to industrial leadership’s opinions about how the Trump administration’s inauguration affects industries. Along with related ministers, including the strategy and finance minister and the trade, industry, and energy minister, associations of major industries such as semiconductors, batteries, automobiles, shipbuilding, and steel-making attended the meeting.
The chip industry shared concern that tariffs on South Korean chips would slow down the export market considering that South Korea’s semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) exports to the U.S. market took up 7.5 percent (10.68 billion U.S. dollars) as of last year. Moreover, South Korea will also see the consequences if the U.S. government, faced with the threat of “DeepSeek,” expands export controls to counter Chinese artificial intelligence (AI).
During the meeting, the industry leaders voiced their desire for further government support. The chip industry requested that the Special Chips Act be processed swiftly to grant exemptions from the 52-hour workweek system, while the automobile industry asked the government to devise measures to revitalize domestic demand so that South Korean businesses could return home to avoid tariffs.
세종=송혜미 기자 1am@donga.com
