U.S. President Joe Biden, surrounded by Democratic lawmakers, signs the Inflation Reduction Act in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Aug. 16. EPA-Yonhap

Korea and the United States have agreed to quickly launch ministerial level talks on ways to minimize damage from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Korean carmakers, South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said Wednesday.

Ahn made the remarks after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai.

"We will discuss specific dates and other details (of the launch) as quickly as possible, but I plan to meet USTR Tai every week, including next week and week after that," the South Korean official told reporters.

Ahn arrived here Monday for talks on the new U.S. law that provides a government tax credit of up to $7,500 to each American buyer of electric vehicles assembled in North America, which excludes all South Korean-made electric cars from the benefit.

Seoul believes the IRA violates the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, which requires the countries to treat products from each other the same as their domestic goods or those from countries with most-favored nation status.

"The U.S. government too fully understands the seriousness of this issue, and so we plan to continue our consultations on how it can actually be resolved with practical measures," said Ahn.

The Korean official said he and his U.S. counterpart, Tai, will hold in-person meetings for two consecutive weeks at least, when asked.

Ahn earlier said Seoul will demand a revision of the new U.S. law, if necessary.

He said alternative solutions may still be possible.

"Since we have formed a consultation channel with the USTR as I had hoped and agreed to start detailed discussions on this issue, we will continue our discussions as many alternatives as possible," he told reporters. (Yonhap)