The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday South Korea should be paying for its own military protection and suggested the U.S. ally needed to pay more for the U.S. troop presence there, a day after saying he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on its imports.

Japan and South Korea have until Aug. 1 to agree new trade terms with the U.S., or face 25% “reciprocal” tariffs. The two Asian countries share vulnerabilities that put them in President Trump’s crosshairs,