Washington: Top executives from South Korea's major conglomerates left for the United States on Sunday to join the economic delegation for President Lee Jae Myung's upcoming summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Around noon, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan departed for the U.S. as part of the presidential economic delegation. Chey, when asked about his role, stated briefly, "I will do my best."
According to Yonhap News Agency, other business leaders in the delegation include Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, Korean Air Co. Chairman Cho Won-tae, and HD Hyundai Executive Vice Chairman Chung Ki-sun. The summit, set for Monday in Washington, follows a recent trade deal that lowered U.S. reciprocal tariffs on South Korean goods from 25 percent to 15 percent. This was in exchange for South Korea's pledge of US$350 billion in investment and $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases.
Of the pledged investment, $150 billion is allocated toward Seoul's shipbuilding cooperation initiative, dubbed "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" (MASGA). Trump has emphasized the need to revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry and highlighted the role of allies, such as South Korea, a global leader in naval vessel construction. It remains to be seen whether Korean companies will unveil additional U.S. investment plans during Lee's first meeting with Trump since his inauguration on June 4.
Hyundai Motor Group announced in March it will invest $21 billion in the U.S. through 2028, including $8.6 billion in the automotive sector and $6.1 billion in steel, components, and logistics. SK hynix Inc. is building a $3.87 billion memory packaging plant and advanced packaging R and D facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, to produce high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips for artificial intelligence applications. LG Energy Solution Ltd., an LG Group affiliate, operates three battery cell plants in the U.S., located in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan, with additional facilities under construction in Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio through joint ventures with GM, Hyundai Motor Group, and Honda, respectively.