US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration has secured “historic” trade agreements with key nations including South Korea, Japan, and India, aimed at significantly increasing US coal exports.
Trump emphasized his commitment to supporting the coal industry during the “champion of coal” event, highlighting the importance of coal mining for the American economy.
“In just the past few months, we’ve made historic trade deals with Japan, Korea, India and others to increase our coal exports dramatically,” he stated at the White House event. “We are now exporting coal to all over the world.”
While details remain unclear, the potential for a specific agreement within the US-South Korea trade deal dedicated to boosting US coal exports is under scrutiny.
In July, Trump announced an initial trade agreement with South Korea via social media, mentioning South Korea’s agreement to purchase $100 billion of US liquefied natural gas or other “energy” resources.
However, a joint fact sheet released by Seoul and Washington in November, summarizing trade and security agreements resulting from two summits between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Trump in August and October, did not explicitly reference any coal export agreement.
