India, Aug. 7 -- Seoul [South Korea], August 7 (ANI), South Korea narrowly avoided steep U.S. tariffs on Thursday after sealing a high-stakes trade deal with Washington, capping new import duties at 15 per cent, instead of the 25 per cent originally set to take effect from Friday.

As reported by The Korea Herald, in exchange, Seoul pledged a USD 350 billion investment package along with USD 100 bn energy imports from U.S and most favoured nation status to U.S., in key sectors which helped in reinforcing cap on tariffs.

The agreement, reached just hours before the deadline, suspends the near-zero tariff regime under the 2012 Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and introduces a new "reciprocal" rate similar to deals recently struck with Japan...