President Donald Trump is first and foremost a businessman. This may not be the optimal forte for the commander in chief—it is certainly not the only skill set necessary for the position. But when it comes to making sure America is getting a fair end of the deal, there is little doubt Trump knows how to get the job done.
On 10 February, the United States and South Korea signed a new defense spending agreement for funding the two nations’ alliance on the Peninsula.
According to reports, Seoul agreed to pay $920 million this year in a new cost-sharing deal with Washington. The new amount represents a twelve percent increase from the $830 million South Korea was paying last year. The money will go to offset the costs of maintaining United States Forces Korea (USFK), a sub-command which includes just over 28,500 personnel deployed in ROK for nearly seven decades.
Easing Tensions
The finalizing of this deal came in the nick of time. The agreement lifts a strain on the alliance just months before the next scheduled U.S.-North Korean summit. If the two allies are going to stand together against Pyongyang with any credible force, they had better have resolved a serious lingering issue such as this.
The provisional contract, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), was inked nearly six weeks after the previous five-year accord expired on 31 December 2018. Negotiators held ten rounds of talks through the end of last year but remained deadlocked over President Trump’s demand that South Korea pay significantly more than it has in recent years.
Discussions on substantially altering the defense-sharing deal began in the latter part of 2018, after Trump began to publicly lambast ROK for not putting up enough funds for the alliance. First, Trump began to lash out on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) defense system, given to Seoul as a shield against North Korean missiles. “I said, so let me get this, we have a system that’s very expensive and we shoot down rockets that are shot from North Korea to South Korea,” Trump said to a crowd in Council Bluffs, Iowa back in October. “Okay, so we’re protecting South Korea, right? Why aren’t they paying?”
Two months later, Trump demanded that South Korea increase their funding for the entire USKF deployment. Initially, South Korean President Moon Jae-in responded that he isn’t willing to pay more, reiterating what he had been telling his own officials for months. But as Trump’s demands became more adamant, the leadership in Seoul understood they’d have to come to the negotiating table.
Just the Latest Deal
The restructuring of SMA is the latest example of Trump altering international commitments in favor of the United States. The signing of the new North American trade deal last December and concessions by China in the (still partially ongoing) trade war are more recent examples of Trump’s accomplishments. The president may be uncouth in his demeanor and tactics, but even his critics have to concede: The man knows how to push progress.
