U.S. Trade Representative Greear. Yonhap News Agency

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greear, who is in charge of trade negotiations for the United States, has declared this year the "year of the tariff" and assessed that the Trump administration's tariff policies are succeeding.

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times (FT) on the 22nd (local time), Representative Greear stated, "Regardless of one's economic ideology, 2025 will be remembered as the year of the tariff."

He remarked, "International trade is what it is, neither good nor bad. The important question is whether the form of trade serves national interests. For President Donald Trump and the Trump administration, that means trade policies that accelerate re-industrialization."

He explained that President Trump initiated trade negotiations using tariffs to reverse chronic trade deficits and hollowing out of manufacturing, and as a result, trade agreements were concluded with entities including the European Union (EU), Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.

He indicated that to assess the success of the administration's trade policies, he is looking at metrics such as overall economic growth increase, reduction in trade deficits, wage increases for American workers, and an increase in the manufacturing sector's proportion of the economy, evaluating, "The outlook is bright."

However, he acknowledged that the revival of manufacturing is not easy in the short term, stating, "It took decades to lose our industrial advantage, and rebuilding won't happen overnight."

Nevertheless, he cited examples of successful manufacturing revival, such as the order for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers at the Philadelphia shipyard, the construction of new pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and the restoration of automotive production lines.

He added, "If someone criticizes it as a difficult start, I will accept that. They should also consider the alternative. If tariffs disappeared, would this new production truly be happening?" he countered.