*

South Korea agrees to invest $350 billion in US projects,

Trump

says

*

South Korea to purchase $100 billion in US energy

products,

according to US

*

US sets tariffs on South Korean autos at 15%, officials

said

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Ju-min Park

WASHINGTON/SEOUL, July 30 (Reuters) - President Donald

Trump said on Wednesday the U.S. will charge a 15% tariff on

imports from South Korea as part of a deal that eases, for now,

tension with a top-10 trading partner and key Asian ally.

The arrangement, announced shortly after Trump met with

Korean officials at the White House, came during a blizzard of

trade policy announcements

ahead of a self-imposed August 1 deadline.

That is when Trump has promised higher tariffs will kick in

on U.S. imports from a range of countries. Imports from South

Korea, a powerhouse exporter of computer chips, cars and steel,

faced a 25% rate.

"I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has

agreed to a Full and Complete Trade Deal with the Republic of

Korea," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said South Korea had agreed to invest $350 billion in

the United States in projects selected by Trump and to purchase

$100 billion of liquefied natural gas and other energy products,

the U.S. president said. Both steps have been major priorities

for Trump, a Republican, in other trade deals.

After Trump's announcement, South Korean President Lee Jae

Myung said the country's tariff deal with the United States

would put South Korea on an equal or better footing compared

with other countries. The claim could not be immediately

verified.

He also said the countries had agreed to set up a $350

billion investment fund, out of which $150 billion was aimed at

a shipbuilding partnership.

Reuters has not seen the text of the deal or analyzed its

terms.

It was not immediately clear how the investment deals would be

structured, where the financing would come from, over what time

frame they would be implemented and to what extent their terms

would be binding on the parties involved. Trump said additional

South Korean investments would be announced later.

Lee will visit the White House "within the next two weeks"

for a meeting with Trump, the U.S. president added.

Trump also said South Korea would accept American products,

including cars, trucks and agriculture into its markets and

impose no import duties on them.

Under the deal, the U.S. would also lower tariffs on South

Korean-made autos to 15%, from 25%, the South Korean

presidential office said. They also said computer chips and

pharmaceutical tariffs imposed on the country's U.S.-bound

exports would not be worse than other countries, and that South

Korea's rice and beef markets would not be open.

South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, Industry

Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo had

been in Washington for talks with senior U.S. officials and were

believed to have met with Trump shortly before the deal

announcement.

Pressure had been mounting on South Korea since Japan

clinched a deal

to cut Trump's threatened tariffs to 15% earlier this

month.

Amid the last-minute push by government officials to reach

a tariff deal, South Korea's Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

inked a

$16.5 billion

chip deal with Tesla.

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution

also signed a

$4.3 billion deal

to supply Tesla with energy storage system batteries, a

person familiar with the matter told Reuters.