POSCO Group plans talks with former US diplomat

Former US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will hold talks with Chairman Choi Jeong-woo of South Korea’s POSCO Group.

They will discuss the conglomerate’s supply chain strategy amid the effects of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Financial sources on Sunday said Biegun will attend a meeting on Wednesday at POSCO Center in Seoul with executives of the group’s leading companies like Chairman Choi and POSCO Future M (formerly POSCO Chemical) President Kim Joon-hyung. Biegun is also an adviser to group affiliate POSCO America.

The meeting will discuss the impact of IRA guidelines recently announced by Washington. They stipulate that because cathode and anode materials are key minerals for batteries, the US offers tax credits for products made in countries with which it has free trade agreements like South Korea as well as those produced in Indonesia and Japan.

Inspections are needed for POSCO Future M, which produces such materials, and POSCO Group, which is securing supply of raw materials for batteries such as lithium and nickel, due to the complexity of the added value and processing ratios.

Argentina and Indonesia have been mentioned as countries exempt from the IRA, leading to surging share prices of POSCO Holdings Inc. and POSCO Future M, both of which own salt lakes in Argentina.

Biegun was chief operating officer at the National Security Council under the George W. Bush administration and later vice president  of international governmental affairs at the American automaker Ford. Under the Trump administration, he was appointed special representative for North Korea to oversee negotiations with Pyongyang.

In 2021, POSCO Group appointed him adviser for tasks like POSCO America’s global trade dispute. He is also senior vice president of global public policy at the US aircraft giant Boeing.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com