South Korea’s leftwing president set for talks with Trump on military alliance and trade

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:

• South Korea’s president to meet Trump

• Why Spotify is raising prices

• The myths that made Putin’s war

• The FT’s Premier League football game

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet Donald Trump at the White House today for their first face-to-face talks. Here’s what to know.

Lee’s challenge: The summit comes amid speculation that the US is preparing to scale back its military presence. The US has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea under an alliance that dates back to the Korean war, but Washington wants Seoul to take on more of the burden of deterring nuclear-armed North Korea. Lee will also be tasked with cementing an eleventh-hour trade deal announced last month, which US and Korean officials have interpreted very differently.

Ideological differences: Lee has never met Trump, though they bonded over their shared experience of surviving assassination attempts, according to people briefed on a phone call following the South Korean election. But officials acknowledge that many in the US national security establishment are wary about the return of a leftwing president in Seoul. Kim Jungsup, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute think-tank in Seoul, said that “dispelling the perception that Lee is anti-American and pro-China is one of the key objectives of his visit”. Read the full story.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Singapore publishes July inflation data.

• China Evergrande delisted: The heavily indebted real estate developer, already in the process of liquidation, will be delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange. (Associated Press)

• Australian companies: Santos and Fortescue report results.

Five more top stories

1. US food industry groups are pushing for exemptions from Trump’s tariffs, arguing that products from fish to cucumbers cannot be affordably grown at home. Lobby groups are taking a piecemeal approach by pleading for individual carve-outs rather than attacking tariffs overall.

2. Spotify has signalled further price rises for customers as it invests in new features and targets 1bn users, according to a senior executive at the US-listed music streaming group. Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer of Spotify, told the FT that just “over 3 per cent of the world’s population are paying us on a recurring basis . . . I think there’s just so much more runway” to expand subscriber numbers. 

3. HSBC’s Swiss private bank has launched a cull of more than 1,000 wealthy Middle Eastern clients, as it faces ongoing scrutiny from regulators over high-risk clients. The bank will be terminating its relationship with a slew of customers from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, and Egypt — many of whom have assets of more than $100mn.

4. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out direct negotiations with the US, accusing Washington of seeking an Iranian surrender. Khamenei struck a defiant tone in his first public appearance since the 12-day war with Israel in June, amid growing domestic pressure on the regime to pursue a rapprochement with the US.

5. An influx of Australian steak into the UK is undercutting domestic production, British farmers have warned, as the livestock sector starts to feel the effects of post-Brexit trade deals. A sharp uptick in imports of prime Australian cuts such as strip loin and rib was eroding confidence in the livestock sector, industry groups told the FT.

The Weekend Essay

Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska earlier this month cannot be understood, as we might like to believe, on the basis of comforting concepts such as national interest. The summit exposed the flawed history and personal vanity that fuel the Russian leader’s war with Ukraine. Timothy Snyder argues that Putin’s view of Ukraine is madness, but there is a method in it.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Sony’s games empire: The PlayStation owner wants its standalone “first-party studios” to contribute more to revenue growth and take measured risks.

• Tourism in Russia: Cut off from many western travellers, Moscow is enticing tourists from the Gulf with TikTok campaigns, easy visas and even “action packed” military tours.

• AI translation: Henry Mance asks, should we celebrate having artificial intelligence translate foreign languages, or be wary of what we might lose?

Chart of the day

Private equity firms are struggling to raise money despite offering unprecedented enticements to attract new investor cash, underscoring a sector-wide contraction that is denting the profitability of the industry.

Take a break from the news . . . 

Can you run a Premier League football club? Take the reins of fictional Premier League squad Pinkham United in the new game from the FT, where you’ll navigate profit and sustainability rules and guide your team to glory.