The U.S. and South Korea had a "very successful" meeting on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, as the two countries opened trade talks with Seoul seeking a path to diminish the stiff tariffs President Donald Trump is angling to impose.

The U.S. treasury secretary said that "we may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week."

South Korea is among three Asia-Pacific countries that have a comprehensive trade pact with the United States, eliminating nearly all tariffs between the two countries. It was fir