The government convened an emergency meeting to seek response measures after the United States suggested the possibility of levying sector-specific tariffs on semiconductors and critical minerals.

The meeting presided over by Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan Thursday also connected with the commercial attaché at the South Korean Embassy in Washington via phone and the minister instructed officials to seek ways to mitigate the impact on domestic firms.

Deputy Trade Minister Park Jung-sung separately held a phone conversation with U.S. Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler to deliver Seoul's concerns and to assess the situation.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to invoke Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to address national security concerns with respect to imports of semiconductors and their derivative products.

The proclamation is set to levy a 25 percent tariff on AI chips that are imported into America and then reexported to other countries, with the White House stating in a fact sheet that Trump may impose “broader” tariffs in a bid to encourage manufacturing in the U.S.

Trump also signed a proclamation for Washington to negotiate with trading partners to address the "threatened impairment of national security" with respect to imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products from any country.