China, Japan, and South Korea have reached an agreement to jointly respond to U.S. tariffs, according to a social media account linked to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Monday. However, South Korea later described the claim as “somewhat exaggerated.”
The state media comments came after the three countries held their first economic dialogue in five years on Sunday, seeking to facilitate regional trade as the Asian export powers brace against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Japan and South Korea are seeking to import semiconductor raw materials from China, and China is also interested in purchasing chip products from Japan and South Korea, the account, Yuyuan Tantian, said in a post on Weibo.
All three sides agreed to strengthen supply chain cooperation and engage in more dialogue on export controls, the post said.
When asked about the report, a spokesperson for South Korea’s trade ministry said “the suggestion that there was a joint response to U.S. tariffs appears to have been somewhat exaggerated,” and referred to the text of the countries’ joint statement.
During Sunday’s meeting, the countries’ trade ministers agreed to speed up talks on a South Korea-Japan-China free trade agreement deal to promote “regional and global trade”, according to a statement released after the meeting.
“The three countries exchanged views on the global trade environment, and as you can see in the joint statement, they shared their understanding of the need to continue economic and trade cooperation,” the South Korean trade ministry spokesperson said.
Japan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The countries’ trade ministers met ahead of Trump’s planned announcement on Wednesday of more tariffs in what he calls “liberation day”, as he upends Washington’s trading partnerships.
Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo are major U.S. trading partners, although they have been at loggerheads amongst themselves over issues including territorial disputes and Japan’s release of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.
(With inputs from Reuters)
