A top trade adviser to US President Donald Trump on Monday accused South Korea's largest electronics companies of unfair trade practices that hurt American companies.
Speaking at an economic policy conference, Peter Navarro, head of the White House National Trade Council, said Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have engaged in "country hopping" by moving manufacturing bases to evade anti-dumping tariffs.
US President Donald Trump (Yonhap)
Navarro said the practice has seriously hurt the US firm Whirlpool.
"I am amazed by how hard it is for our companies to compete on a level playing field. This heartland of America icon is grappling with a practice called country hopping. Two of the South Korean competitors, LG and Samsung, simply move the production to another country each time Whirlpool wins anti-dumping cases against them," Navarro said.
"Such country hopping has happened twice to Whirlpool already.
LG and Samsung have moved from China to Vietnam and Thailand. This is the kind of trade cheating that must be stopped. It undermines the whole international order, even as it puts thousands of Americans on the unemployment line. It imposes millions of dollars of losses on companies like Whirlpool," he said.
It is seen as unusual for such a top White House official to openly criticize foreign companies.
Navarro also said trade deficits undermine national security.
"Bilateral trade deficits do indeed matter, and it is a critical economic goal and in the interest of national security to reduce these deficits in a way that expands overall trade," he said. (Yonhap)