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South Korea is urging the United States to exempt it from the Trump administration's upcoming steel tariffs.Seoul's finance chief made the request directly to his U.S. counterpart on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Argentina.Lee Seung-jae reports. With Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G20 member states coming together for a meeting in Buenos Aires,... South Korea's Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon used the opportunity to urge U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to exempt South Korea from the stiff steel tariffs,... first proposed by President Trump earlier this month. Kim said the tariffs could send the wrong signal at a time when the two nations are working closely together on North Korea. He also emphasized that South Korean steel goods do not pose a threat to the U.S. steel industry with the current South Korean outbound shipment trend and its low market share in the U.S. This comes as Seoul has been negotiating with Washington through multiple channels to earn a reprieve from the 25 percent steel tariff, which is set to take effect on Friday. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce,... South Korea shipped three-point-six million tons of steel products to the U.S. in 2017,... making it the number three steel exporter after Canada and Brazil. And while major U.S. trade partners like Canada, China and the EU have threatened to take retaliatory action,... the South Korean government has remained cautious,... amid the ongoing negotiations to amend the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement. During last week's third round of FTA talks between South Korea and the U.S., South Korea's trade minister Kim Hyun-chong met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer,... in an effort to get Seoul exempted from the proposed steel tariffs. Yoo Myung-hee,... who led the third round of talks,... has also extended her stay throughout this week to assist in Kim's outreach efforts. Industry officials say the new duties,... in addition to the existing tariffs,... would sharply raise the prices of South Korean exports.Seoul is concerned that trade tensions have spiked at a politically sensitive time,... when close consultations are needed between the two allies ahead of their respective summits with North Korea to resolve the nuclear standoff.Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.