WASHINGTON, July 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung will visit the White House for bilateral talks "within the next two weeks," as he unveiled a trade deal with Seoul.

The meeting will be their first since Lee, who has been focused on reaching a trade deal with Washington to avoid an August 1 deadline for higher duties, assumed office in June.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump announced 15 percent tariffs on imports from South Korea, which he said would invest $350 billion in the United States and buy $100 billion in liquefied natural gas or other energy products.

Trump also said South Korea had agreed to invest an additional, unspecified "large sum of money."

"This sum will be announced within the next two weeks when the President of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, comes to the White House for a Bilateral Meeting," Trump said.

Seoul -- which has already been hit by US sector levies on steel and car exports -- is Washington's long-time security ally and the United States has around 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.

The allies signed a new five-year agreement last year on sharing the cost of stationing US troops in South Korea, with Seoul agreeing to raise its contribution by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for 2026.

Before returning to the White House in January, Trump said that Seoul would pay billions more annually if he won the presidential election.