US tariff ruling has limited impact on Korean stock market: analysts

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs is expected to have a limited impact on the Korean stock market, though effects may vary across sectors, analysts here said Monday. On Friday (local time), the U.S. court ruled Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs as unlawful, making a major setback for his trade policies. Following the ruling, Trump announced a new temporary global tariff of 15 percent and vowed to issue "new and legally permissible" duties to replace the nullified reciprocal tariffs. "The court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs will not have a huge impact on the Korean stock market," Kang Dae-seung, an analyst at SK Securities, said, noting the newly raised blanket 15 percent tariff rate is of the same level as what was agreed upon in the Seoul-Washington trade deal last year. Market watchers also noted that Washington would not want to escalate trade tensions with its trading partners, especially ahead of the United States' midterm elections slated for November. Despite the overall m