SEOUL (Reuters) -Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung will travel to Washington on Wednesday to support South Korea’s push for a trade deal with the United States, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Other South Korean business leaders have also visited the United States. Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee left for Washington on Tuesday while the vice chairman of Hanwha Group was also reported to have travelled to the United States.
Chung was expected to lend support to the South Korean effort to avert a 25% tariff on its exports that U.S. President Donald Trump said would be imposed on August 1, Yonhap reported. It did not go into further detail on Chung’s role.
Hyundai Motor was not immediately available to comment on the report. Hyundai, together with affiliate Kia Corp, is the world’s third largest carmaker and as a major exporter to the U.S. is expected to be hit by the new tariffs.
On Tuesday, Samsung leader Lee left Seoul for what the company said was a business trip, a day after the world’s largest memory chip maker unveiled a $16.5 billion deal to supply chips to Tesla.
Top South Korean government officials are converging on Washington in an all-out push to clinch a trade deal before the August 1 deadline.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Heekyong Yang; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kate Mayberry)
