SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will leave for the United States on Friday for tariff talks, just days ahead of the July 9 deadline when U.S. tariffs could rise sharply. Yeo said he would consider requesting an extension of the reciprocal tariff pause, depending on the progress of negotiations with U.S. officials.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that the country is working hard to strike a trade deal with the United States on impending tariffs but expressed uncertainty about when talks would be concluded.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung says that it remains unclear whether Seoul and Washington can conclude their tariff negotiations by next week’s deadline set by President Donald Trump

The United States will place a lower-than-promised tariff on many Vietnamese exports, Donald Trump said, cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the U.S. president could raise levies on most imports.

An analysis finds a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could potentially be managed through price hikes,