*

South Korea agrees to invest $350 billion in US projects

*

South says projects to include shipbuilding, chips,

batteries

*

South Korea to purchase $100 billion in US energy products

*

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

said

(Adds analyst comment in paragraph 10, Lutnick and Kim comments

in paragraphs 16-21, context in 23-28)

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, down from a threatened 25%, as part of

a deal that eases tensions 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 prior to Wednesday's last-minute deal.

"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.

The negotiations were an early test for South Korean

President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June after a snap

election. He said the deal had eliminated uncertainty in the

export environment and set U.S. tariffs lower than or at the

same level as major competitors.

"We have crossed a big hurdle," Lee said in a post on

Facebook. Trump said Lee would visit the White House "within the

next two weeks" for his first meeting with the U.S. president.

South Korea agreed to invest $350 billion in the United

States in projects selected by Trump and to purchase $100

billion in energy products, the U.S. president said.

He also said South Korea would accept American products,

including autos and agriculture into its markets and impose no

import duties on them.

South Korea's top officials said the country's rice and beef

markets would not be further open, and that discussions over

U.S. demands on food regulations continue.

"We avoided the worst and chose the next best," said Cheong

In-kyo, a former South Korean trade minister. Much will depend

on how the investments to the U.S. are structured, he added.

"Depending how and where $350 billion will be spent, this

fund will be looked at differently."

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

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. Trump said additional South Korean

investments would be announced later.

Of the $350 billion fund, $150 billion was aimed at a

shipbuilding partnership while $200 billion would include chips,

nuclear power, batteries, and biotechnology, Kim Yong-beom,

policy chief from the South Korean presidential office, told a

briefing.

Existing investment plans by South Korean companies would be

part of the fund, according to Kim.

He said that "ambiguity is good", but noted that they had

ensured there would be safeguards over how the funds were used.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared in a post on

X that 90% of the profits from the $350 billion fund were "going

to the American people."

Kim said that South Korea understands it to mean that

profits would be reinvested.

The energy purchases would include LNG, LPG, crude oil, and

a small amount of coal, Kim said.

"This is within our usual import volume," he said, adding

that it might lead to a "slight shift" in the country's mix of

imports from the Middle East to more American sources.

Lutnick said the energy purchases would happen "over the

next 3.5 years."

The U.S. tariff rate on South Korean autos would be set at

15% and the country's semiconductor and pharmaceutical exports

would not be treated more harshly than those from other

countries, Lutnick said. Steel, aluminum, and copper were not

covered by the new deal.

SCRAMBLE IN SOUTH KOREA

The negotiations took place in a turbulent political

environment in South Korea with former President Yoon Suk Yeol

removed in April after he was impeached for an attempt to impose

martial law.

South Korea has been a particular target of Trump for its

trade surplus as well as the cost to maintain some 28,500 U.S.

troops in the country to defend against North Korea.

Last year South Korea posted a record $55.7 billion trade

surplus with the United States, up 25.4% from a year earlier.

It is among only three Asia-Pacific countries that already

had a comprehensive free trade agreement with the United States,

but that did not spare it from new tariffs.

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.