The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that South Korea needed to pay for its own military, suggesting the U.S. ally needed to pay more for having American security guarantees. "South Korea is making a lot of money,

The United States’ closest security allies in Asia, along with several Southeast Asian countries, have been given another three weeks to negotiate trade deals — or face higher tariffs.