U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 2 (local time) that the reciprocal tariff rate on Korea was 25 percent, but an annex to the executive order released by the White House later showed that it was 26 percent. In response, the White House said that “the executive order must be followed” and that the 26 percent figure in the annex to the executive order was correct.

When Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs in the White House, a board he held up showed the reciprocal tariff rate for Korea as 25 percent.

While Trump did not specifically mention Korea's tariff rate during his speech, he cited figures on the board when referring to other countries' tariff rates. In a table of tariff rates for each country released by the White House on X, Korea was also listed at 25 percent.

However, the annex to the executive order posted by the Trump administration on the White House website lists Korea's tariff rate at 26 percent.

A White House official responded to reporters' inquiries about the one-percentage-point difference, saying, "The country should follow the figures (26 percent) indicated in the annex to the executive order." The official did not explain why the reciprocal tariff rate for Korea was different on the board Trump was holding during his announcement and the annex.

In addition to Korea, the annex shows that tariff rates for India, Switzerland, South Africa, the Philippines, Pakistan, Serbia and Botswana are 1 percentage point higher than the figures in the board showing affected countries.

The Korean Embassy in the U.S. has asked the U.S. to explain why the tariff rate in the annex to the executive order is different from that in the board Trump was holding.