SEOUL, March 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea has been exempted from the U.S. heavy tariffs on steel imports in a deal to revise their six-year-old free trade agreement (FTA), Seoul's trade minister said Monday.

"(South) Korea became the very first country to wrap up negotiations (to be exempted from the U.S. tariffs on steel imports) and eliminated the uncertainty of local steelmakers about exports to the United States," Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong told a press briefing.

Under the agreement, South Korea will continue to be exempted from the U.S. duty of 25 percent on steel imports even after the temporary deferment ends on May 1.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recommended to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing a 53 percent tariff on steel products imported from some countries, including South Korea.

Washington granted a deferment to a number of countries, including South Korea which had negotiated with the U.S. side on the new tariffs and the bilateral free trade pact that took effect in 2012.

In return for the exemption, South Korea allowed the United States to set an import ceiling on South Korean steel products at 2.68 million tons per year, or 70 percent of South Korea's average steel exports to the United States for three years through 2017.

The import quota is equivalent to 74 percent of last year's South Korean steel exports to the United States. South Korea is the third-largest steel exporter to the United States.