South Korea and the United States have been discussing a shipbuilding tie-up that could include investments to modernise U.S. shipyards and more help to repair the U.S. naval fleet as Seoul seeks better tariff terms,

The agreement that Japan secured has added pressure on South Korea to defuse the threat of high tariffs on its exports to the United States.

South Koreans’ perceptions of the US have taken a dive amid Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy and trade agenda.