Industry ministers of Korea, U.S., Japan share intent to boost key supply chains

(From right) S. Korean Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Japanese Industry Minister Ken Saito pose for a photo before the three contries’ inaugural commerce-industry ministerial meeting in Washington on June 26, 2024. [Photo provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]

The industry ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan held their inaugural trilateral meeting in Washington D.C. Wednesday and resolved to carry out strategic partnership “to enhance the security and prosperity of our people and the Indo-Pacific region.”

The meeting was attended by Korean Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Saito Ken.

“Our shared intent is to leverage this trilateral mechanism to promote the development of critical and emerging technologies and strengthen the security and resiliency of our economies,” the joint statement said. “Recognizing these two goals are intertwined, we aim to prioritize cooperation to strengthen the resilience of supply chains in key sectors, including semiconductors and batteries…”

The ministers did not mention China in the joint statement but reached a consensus on their stance against Beijing.

“As part of these efforts, there is an urgency to our three sides working closely together to identify potential supply chain vulnerabilities for strategic goods that have resulted from a wide range of non-market policies and practices. We share concerns over the weaponization of economic dependencies on certain supply sources for strategic goods,” the statement said.

The ministers also said that “we reaffirm our recognition of the essential role that semiconductors play in a wide range of industries and applications important to the growth of our economies and preservation of our national security. We note our shared interest in building resilient semiconductor supply chains and aim to accelerate cooperation to achieve this goal.”

Ahn urged the three countries to establish a more robust framework for institutional cooperation based on the trilateral vision established by three leaders at their historic Trilateral Summit at Camp David.