JAKARTA - The governments of China, Japan and South Korea will strengthen trilateral cooperation to complement each other's supply chains, in the face of reciprocal tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The cooperation is a follow-up meeting held by China, Japan, and South Korea last week.

During the meeting, Yuyuan Tantian's account on Weibo, affiliated with China Central Television, said Japan and South Korea were trying to import semiconductor raw materials from China. Meanwhile, China is also said to be interested in buying chips from Japan and South Korea.

Japan's Trade Minister, Yoji Muto, confirmed the trade ministers' meeting last week, through a press conference on Tuesday (1/3) yesterday. Yoji admitted that the three parties agreed to accelerate the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), to increase regional and global trade.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of Trade admitted that the three countries had exchanged views on global trade conditions. ‘They understand what is needed to continue economic and trade cooperation,’ he said, as quoted by Reuters.

As previously reported by IDNFinancials.com, the US announced reciprocal tariffs to 54 of its trading partners on Wednesday (2/4). The US imposed a tariff of 34% on products imported from China. Then Japan was hit with a 24% tariff and South Korea 25%.

For the record, these three countries are major trading partners of the US. In recent years, these three countries have been at odds over issues ranging from territorial disputes to waste disposal. (KR/LM)