Donald Trump, pictured on October 29, 2025 with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, during a visit the White House leader made to South Korea, PHOTO: American Photo Archive / Alamy / Profimedia Images
Two weeks after US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung met and announced they had reached an agreement after months of negotiations on tariffs and security issues, the two sides have yet to publish any official agreement, Reuters reports.
South Korean officials say the delay appears to be largely related to discussions over the Seoul government's request that Washington agree to build a nuclear-powered submarine — a request Lee made publicly when he met with Trump during an Asia-Pacific forum in South Korea last month.
After that meeting, officials said they would soon release a fact sheet detailing an agreement on security aspects, including the construction of the submarine, as well as a trade deal first announced at the first meeting between Trump and Lee in July. According to the agreement announced at the time, South Korea would invest hundreds of billions of dollars in American projects in exchange for lower customs duties.
“Since the issue of building a nuclear-powered submarine has been raised, each of the US departments seems to need some time to adjust their positions,” South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said in an interview with local station KBS on Sunday.
His comments came after a senior official in South Korea's presidential office said on Friday that Washington had approved Seoul's use of nuclear fuel for the submarine, but the fact sheet was taking longer to finalize as relevant US departments were still providing comments and the wording of the document continued to be tweaked.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The won, South Korea's national currency, depreciated as much as 0.7 percent on Tuesday, hitting a seven-month low of 1,467.5 won to the dollar — amid concerns over a delay in the publication of the fact sheet.
Trump wants the submarine to be built by an American shipyard
Lee's stance on South Korea's submarine construction also appears to contradict Trump's recent comments on social media platforms. He stated that the project would have been approved, but that the submarine would be built by a shipyard in the United States. Analysts say there are question marks over Washington's willingness to transfer sensitive technology.
The submarine negotiations come as the two sides say they have reached a commercial deal. But disagreements over the structure of the investment fund prevented the release of joint statements after previous meetings between Lee and Trump.
“As far as customs duties are concerned, the project can be considered complete and will be made public when the joint fact sheet is ready for announcement,” said a Ministry of Commerce official in Seoul.
Kim Jung-kwan, the industry minister, told parliament on Tuesday that negotiations on the joint fact sheet were in the final stages, without giving details on when the announcement would be made.
Kim said South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor, whose battery factory in the US state of Georgia was the target of a major raid by US immigration authorities in September, is losing about 300 billion won ($211.05 million) a month because of the delay in the tariff deal.
A memorandum of understanding on South Korea's $350 billion investment package is also being prepared but has not yet been signed, and the manner and timing of the signing is to be determined, the official added.
“We are waiting for this because we need it to be officially announced so that we can take further steps, such as explaining the document to parliament,” said the same Trade Ministry official.
