A senior South Korean government official ruled out on Monday that Seoul would agree to a trade package with Washington by the time the country holds a presidential election on June 3, and flagged challenges to reaching a deal even before early July.

South Korea and the U.S. are working on a deal to remove new U.S. tariffs ahead of a July deadline. The two nations seek exemptions and have agreed to further discussions focused on tariffs, economic security,

Monday's findings include 3.3 billion won worth of cathode materials used for batteries, imported from China and shipped to the U.S. with South Korea falsely marked as the country of origin, to avoid already high tariffs in January even before Trump's tariffs took effect.