President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on a dozen other countries.

While South Korean imports to the U.S. face 25% tariffs, the same as Trump promised in April, the rate on Japan has been raised by 1 percentage point to 25%.

South Korea, the United States and Japan held trilateral ministerial talks on the sidelines of a multilateral gathering in Malaysia on Friday, Seoul officials said, with steep U.S. tariffs, and other shared regional and global issues likely to be high on the agenda.

Japan and South Korea, the United States’ closest security allies in Asia and key partners in its effort to counter China, were sent scrambling Tuesday after the U.S. president renewed his threat to impose steep tariffs on their goods,

Japan's June core inflation likely slowed but remained above the central bank's 2% target, a Reuters poll showed, keeping it under pressure to resume interest rate hikes as U.S. trade tariffs threaten an already fragile economy.

President Donald Trump on Monday informed Japan and South Korea that 25% tariffs will be imposed starting Aug. 1 on goods sent to the United States.