South Korean companies fear that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment following a failed attempt to impose martial law this month has undermined efforts to lobby Donald Trump’s incoming administration to protect their exports and investments in the US.
The US president-elect has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs and review generous subsidies for companies to invest in the US, including those for America’s allies and largest trading partners.
But recent political turmoil in Seoul has left the campaign to counter Trump’s trade protectionism rudderless, according to several people involved in the lobbying effort who described the South Korean government’s diplomatic efforts as “paralysed” and “absent” in the wake of Yoon’s aborted power grab.