U.S. and South Korean negotiators began updating the six-year-old trade agreement last year after President Donald Trump derided it as a job-killer and repeatedly threatened to withdraw. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Trump threatens to ‘hold up’ trade deal with S. Korea as leverage in N. Korea talks

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he is considering stalling a newly updated trade agreement with South Korea until the U.S. can to strike a nuclear deal with Seoul’s northern neighbor.

“I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea,” Trump said during a campaign-style speech in Ohio, referring to a new trade agreement in principle that U.S. trade negotiators struck with South Korea earlier this month.


“Does everybody understand that?” he continued. “Because it’s a very strong card, and I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly, and we’re moving along very nicely with North Korea. We’ll see what happens.”

A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for further details on how exactly Trump plans to delay the new agreement, which still has to be signed by both countries and passed by South Korea’s National Assembly. But Trump indicated at the rally that he was planning to use it as leverage in ongoing talks with Pyongyang.

“South Korea has been wonderful,” Trump said. “But we’ll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it all works out.”

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U.S. and South Korean negotiators began updating the six-year-old trade agreement known as KORUS last year after Trump derided it as a job-killer and repeatedly threatened to withdraw the U.S. from it.

The revised agreement includes a commitment by South Korea to extend by 20 years the U.S. tariff phase-out for pickup truck exports. The U.S. will also be allowed to double to 50,000 the number of vehicles per model that can be exported without having to meet South Korean safety standards.

Separately, Seoul also agreed to cap its steel exports to the U.S. at 70 percent of the average export volume for the past three years in order to avoid paying a new 25 percent tariff.

Trump continued his criticism of the deal on Thursday, blaming it on Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of State at the time the deal was signed in 2011. Clinton lobbied for the ratification of the final deal, but trade negotiations fall under the purview of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rather than State, and the pact passed Congress by a bipartisan vote.

“We were in a trade deal that was a horror show,” he said. “It was gonna produce 200,000 jobs, and it did — for them.

“So we've redone it,” he added. “And that’s going to level the playing field on steel and cars and trucks coming into this country.”