MEXICO CITY — President Lee Jae-myung used a trip to the United States and Mexico to put security negotiations with Washington back on track while broadening a framework for cooperation with Mexico on supply chains, defense and advanced industries. After pulling off a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump that had looked uncertain, Lee secured the conclusion of talks to revise an investment protection treaty that had been stalled for seven years during the first state visit to Mexico by a Korean president in 16 years.
Lee arrived at Seoul Airport on the 27th, wrapping up the seven-day trip. In Mexico, where he made a state visit for the first time in 16 years as a Korean president, Lee held 119 minutes of talks with President Claudia Sheinbaum on the 24th, combining a small-group session and an expanded meeting. The two focused on widening bilateral ties from a trade-centered relationship to supply chains, economic security and advanced industries.
The summit produced a package agreement concluding talks to revise the Korea-Mexico investment protection treaty, which began in 2019 and had been deadlocked for seven years. The revised treaty strengthens protections for investors, including recovery of investment funds and compensation for losses by Korean companies, and guarantees the transfer of investment funds even during a foreign exchange crisis.
The two countries also adopted a "2026-2030 Korea-Mexico Joint Action Plan" and exchanged 17 cooperation documents spanning government and the private sector. They agreed to create an intergovernmental dialogue channel to discuss crude oil and critical resources, and to explore ways for Korean defense companies to take part in Mexico's military modernization program. In particular, they laid groundwork for exporting Korea's FA-50 multirole light attack aircraft to Mexico.
At a Korea-Mexico business forum, memorandums of understanding were signed in areas including artificial intelligence, space, defense, public safety, agriculture, and culture and tourism. POSCO International (047050.KS) and Korea Aerospace Industries signed an MOU with Mexico's aerospace industry federation, moving to expand Korea's aerospace industry into the country. HS Hyosung Advanced Materials (298050.KS) signed an MOU with the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí and plans to invest in building a production base for automotive carpets.
The biggest achievement of the trip was the Korea-U.S. summit abruptly arranged in New York. Whether the meeting would take place at all had been in doubt as negotiations over strategic investment in the United States ran into difficulty, but as the talks made progress Lee sat down with Trump for about 30 minutes on the 22nd of this month. The two leaders welcomed progress in the strategic investment discussions and agreed to continue follow-up consultations on security issues including fuel for nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment and reprocessing, shipbuilding cooperation, and the transfer of wartime operational control.
Lee conveyed Korea's intention to increase defense spending and take on greater responsibility for the defense of the Korean Peninsula, saying he would accelerate discussions on the transfer of wartime operational control and on nuclear-powered submarines. Trump also expressed interest in shipbuilding cooperation, including the construction of U.S. warships, creating an opening for economic and security cooperation between the two countries to advance together.
The summit had originally been scheduled for about 10 minutes, but Trump extended his conversation with Lee even to the point of delaying a keynote speech at a reception welcoming participants in the U.N. General Assembly that had been scheduled afterward, according to accounts of the meeting. As a result, the two leaders talked for 30 minutes, far longer than the 10 minutes expected.
The two leaders also agreed to meet for a round of golf. An official at the Presidential Office said Trump asked White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to set a time after Lee raised the idea of a golf outing again as the meeting was drawing to a close. That has raised expectations that a golf meeting between Lee and Trump could actually take place around the Group of 20 summit to be held in Miami in December.
In his keynote address to the U.N. General Assembly, Lee laid out three visions for the Korean Peninsula: "inclusive peaceful coexistence" based on mutual respect for each other's systems, "stable peaceful coexistence" that prevents conflict, and "responsible peaceful coexistence" that contributes to global peace. He also met global financial leaders on Wall Street in New York to pitch "Korea sales," highlighting the resilience and growth potential of the Korean economy and the possibility of a re-rating of its capital markets. On his way home on the 26th, Lee held an impromptu tea session with reporters traveling with him during a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska.
