The major elements of President Yoon’s tours include business agreements, sales diplomacy, and other commercial activities.
Tuesday marked the beginning of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official visit to the United States, and it was at this time that several major expenditures, collaborations, and other business initiatives totaling billions of dollars were announced.
Yoon, who travels extensively outside of South Korea and considers himself “the No. 1 salesman” for his home country, prioritizes striking commercial deals and engaging in “sales diplomacy” when on these excursions.
As the carmaker continues to diversify its component vendors, General Motors Co., as well as Samsung SDI, stated on Tuesday that they will jointly invest over three billion dollars to develop a battery for an electric car production factory within the United States as part of a joint venture.
Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea recently announced that it has completed the finalization of a five-billion-dollar electric car battery partnership in the US, which will bolster Hyundai’s attempts to electrify vehicles in its biggest market.
After a meeting between co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos along with Yoon, Netflix revealed plans to invest the equivalent of 2.5 billion dollars in South Korea during the next 4 years to develop Korean television series, films, and unscripted projects. This would bring Netflix’s total investment in the region since 2016 to a total of $5.0 billion.
Choi Sang-mok, the Chief Economic Advisor to the President, stated to journalists the previous week that dozens of commercial deals were in the process of being negotiated in preparation for being signed during Yoon’s tour.
This journey will commemorate the seven decades of cooperation that has helped underpin the US approach in Asia and created a basis for South Korea’s development as a global economy. Yoon’s visit, which will take place between April 24 and 29, will be the first official visit to the United States by a South Korean president in the past 12 years.
Over one hundred and twenty executives representing South Korea’s most successful corporations are traveling with him, including Jay Y. Lee, Executive Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Euisun Chung, Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group.
On Wednesday, Yoon and Biden are scheduled to meet as a result of the summit meeting.
A top diplomat in the USA stated last week that Vice President Biden intends to praise the enormous amount of money that South Korea has invested in the technological development of the United States since he assumed office.
During his first journey to Asia as president of the United States, Joe Biden’s first stop was a major semiconductor plant owned by Samsung Electronics located in South Korea. This was done to emphasize an argument for economic stability while also keeping an eye on the conflict in Ukraine and China.
Rivalry with China over advanced semiconductors for services like 5G and AIÂ is now a focal point, and South Korea plays a vital part in the worldwide supply chain.
However, when the United States later enacted new laws regarding tax credits for electric vehicles and subsidies for enterprises in the semiconductor industry, it sparked uproar in Seoul since it was regarded to have had an adverse effect on companies in South Korea.
Officials from the Yoon administration stated earlier this month that suggested electric car tax guidelines from the United States Treasury Department will “substantially” resolve many of South Korea’s issues. However, experts said it is unlikely that any significant progress would be made during the trip in further settling the problems between the two countries.
Politico in Seoul, Eom Kyeong-young, opines that Yoon will likely highlight the amount of cash he received from American companies through this trip as we noticed with today’s Netflix declaration because he needs financial success to convey to South Koreans despite the low expectations for (the tax breaks and component subsidies).
