Seoul: Jose Munoz, chief executive officer (CEO) of Hyundai Motor Co., has welcomed a recent tariff deal between South Korea and the United States, saying it provides predictability for the company's long-term business strategy. "This framework reinforces our localization strategy while maintaining the seamless collaboration between our Korean design, engineering and manufacturing teams, and our American manufacturing operations," Munoz said in a social media post shared late Thursday. "It's exactly the kind of predictable environment that allows us to execute our long-term plans," he added.

According to Yonhap News Agency, his comments came after the U.S. government agreed to impose a 15 percent reciprocal tariff on South Korean goods, down from the initially proposed 25 percent, as part of a trade deal tied to large-scale Korean investments in the American economy. As part of the deal, Washington also agreed to lower the tariff rate for South Korean-manufactured vehicles to 15 percent from the current 25 percent.

While U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff scheme still puts a heavy burden on most South Korean exporters, including automakers, who had previously enjoyed a near-zero tariff under a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the countries, Munoz said the latest trade deal offers much-needed "clarity" that reinforces the company's earlier plan to boost its investment and production in the U.S. Hyundai Motor Group previously announced a US$21 billion investment plan in the U.S. that it said would create more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.

Munoz highlighted multiple U.S.-based operations that form the group's growing manufacturing network, including the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia, the expanded production capacity in Alabama and a planned Hyundai Steel Co. facility in Louisiana. "This framework also secures a bright future for our Korean employees who drive our global innovation," he said, emphasizing the role of Hyundai's Namyang research and development (R and D) center in South Korea in developing technologies that power its U.S. operations.