WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 30: President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in enter the White House Rose Garden in Washington on June 30. (Calla Kessler/The Washington Post)

President Trump has instructed advisers to prepare a withdrawal from the United States’ free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally at a time both countries confront a crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

While it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement in order to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this coming week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A number of senior White House officials are trying to prevent Trump from withdrawing from the agreement, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, these people said.

A White House spokeswoman said “discussions are ongoing, but we have no announcements at this time.”

South Korea elected a new president, Moon Jae-in, in May, and Trump has been frustrated that Moon is not willing to accept the initial U.S. trade demands, several trade experts said. Foreign leaders at first worked hard to try and build strong relations with Trump, but there has been a marked change in recent months with numerous leaders standing up to his brand of nationalism.

Trump is “playing with fire,” said Gary Schmitt, co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “There is a new president in South Korea whose instincts probably are to be probably not as pro-America as his predecessor and now you are putting him in situation where he has to react. In fact, what you need now is as much cooperation as possible.”

One reason top White House advisers are trying to stop Trump from withdrawing from the South Korea free trade agreement is because they do not want to isolate the government in Seoul at a time when North Korea has become increasingly adversarial with its missile program, testing nuclear weapons and firing missiles over Japan in a way that has alarmed the international community.

If Trump withdraws from the agreement, he could try to force South Korea to import more U.S. products with little to no import restrictions, something he believes will help U.S. companies and workers. South Korea could also decide to refuse any discussions with Trump, kicking off a trade war between the countries.

The trade agreement was signed in 2007 and went into effect in 2012.

Withdrawing from the deal could lead to a large increase on tariffs levied against products the United States imports from South Korea, such as electronics, cellphones and automobiles. South Korea would also immediately start charging very high tariffs on goods and services imported into its country. Chad Bown, who served as an economist in the White House during the Obama administration, said the tariff the U.S. government charges against many Korean imports would rise from 0 to 3.5 percent. The tariff South Korea charges against U.S. imports would rise from 0 to almost 14 percent, potentially making it harder for U.S. companies to find buyers there.

Trump’s consideration of starting the process of pulling out of the deal was first reported by Inside U.S. Trade.

In July, U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer revealed some of Trump’s complaints with the South Korea deal during a “special session” that was called in an attempt by the White House to begin renegotiations.

Lighthizer said at the time that since 2012, the U.S. “trade deficit in goods with Korea has doubled from $13.2 billion to $27.6 billion, while U.S. goods exports have actually gone down. This is quite different from what the previous Administration sold to the American people when it urged approval of this Agreement. We can and must do better.”

South Korea, though, has so far refused to renegotiate the trade deal.

In an April interview with the Washington Post, Trump called the U.S.’s trade agreement with South Korea “a horrible deal” that has left America “destroyed.”

“With the ­Korean deal, we terminate and it’s over,” Trump told the Washington Post in that interview.

Trump added: “I will do that unless we make a fair deal. We’re getting destroyed in Korea.”

Trump has expressed widespread frustration that he has not been able to follow through on campaign promises to rip up trade deals that he argues have disadvantaged U.S. workers. He came close several months ago to starting a withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement, but he stopped short after intense lobbying by advisers and the business community.

But in recent days he has said he might still withdraw from NAFTA, accusing Mexico in particular of refraining to offer concessions during negotiations.

South Korea is the sixth-largest goods trading partner with the United States, accounting for $112.2 billion in two-way trade last year, according to the U.S. trade representative. U.S. companies exported $42.3 billion in goods to South Korea and imported $69.9 billion in goods last year, leaving a trade deficit of $27.7 billion.

Trump has said many countries that export more goods to the United States than they import are fleecing U.S. workers and consumers.

The U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement, known as KORUS, allows the United States to terminate it after six months if it wishes to. So if Trump signed a letter to withdraw from the agreement, the deal would effectively be terminated in March 2018. KORUS was approved by Congress, but Trump could to pull out of the agreement on his own.

HOUSTON — President Trump swooped into this flood-ravaged city Saturday to meet with survivors of Hurricane Harvey in his second visit to Southeast Texas since the storm came ashore eight days ago.

After focusing exclusively on the government response to Harvey and staying out of the disaster zone during his first trip to the region Tuesday, Trump planned to highlight storm victims and shine the presidential spotlight on communities dramatically altered by Harvey’s enduring floodwaters.

Trump, who traveled here with first lady Melania Trump, met with residents affected by the storm at the NRG Center in Houston, stopping by a lunch line where volunteers were distributing hot dogs, chips and apple sauce.

The Trumps, escorted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), stopped for hugs and posed for photos with storm survivors. In the children’s area of the center, the president got into a scrum with three boys, one with a fake sword, while the first lady sat on the floor with children and books.

“The message is that things are working out well. Really, I think people appreciate what’s been done. It’s been done very efficiently, very well, and that’s what we want,” the president said. “We’re very happy with the way everything is going. A lot of love. There’s a lot of love.”

The first couple is also expected to meet with members of the Texas congressional delegation; the administration is pushing for an initial $7.9 billion disaster relief package from Congress.

“There’s a lot of water, a lot of water, but it’s moving out,” Trump said of what he saw from Air Force One. “But I think most importantly, the governor, the relationship with the governor, the mayor and everybody, it’s been fantastic. And with the federal government. We’re signing a lot of documents now to get money into your state.”

During a visit to the First Church of Pearland in the Houston suburb of Pearland, Trump again praised local officials for their response to the storm, singling out Abbott.

“I want to congratulate the governor,” said Trump. “It’s been an incredible five days, six days. It seems like it’s been much longer than that, but actually it’s going so well that it’s going fast, in a certain sense.”

The president said he expects the recovery to be “long term” — but maybe not that long term.

“We’re talking about, they say two years, three years, but I think that because this is Texas you’ll probably do it in six months!” Trump said as the people in the church burst into cheers.

From here, the president and first lady will fly to Lake Charles in neighboring Louisiana to visit emergency responders as well as members of that state’s congressional delegation, before flying back to Washington on Saturday evening.

In remarks Friday at the White House, where he met in the Oval Office with the leaders of the American Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations, Trump sounded a unifying message.

“We’re one American family brought together in times of tragedy by the unbreakable bonds of love and loyalty that we have for one another,” Trump said. “And there is a great love and a great loyalty in this country, and I think we’ve all seen it, maybe more so than ever before over the last four days.”

Harvey has largely consumed Trump’s attention since it slammed into the Texas coast on the night of Aug. 25. The president has closely monitored the storm and the flooding it caused, expressing awe and gushing in superlatives about Harvey’s power and the scale of the destruction it left behind.

Trump drew some criticism for neglecting to speak about the victims of the storm during his first visit to Texas. Rather, he showered praise on state and local officials, as well as on members of his Cabinet. He commended Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for becoming “very famous on television.”

Trump’s movements Tuesday were restricted because of logistical and security concerns. The president wanted to survey damaged communities firsthand, aides said, but he stayed away from Houston and other hard-hit areas because the large presidential entourage could have been a hindrance to rescue efforts.

The next day, during a visit to Missouri to call on Congress to pass sweeping tax cuts, Trump spoke directly about the people affected by the storm, and has been making a point to humanize his remarks in the days since.

On Friday, as he signed a proclamation making Sunday a national day of prayer, Trump talked about “the American spirit of service embodied by countless men and women” across Texas and Louisiana.

“Brave first responders have rescued those stranded in drowning cars and rising water,” Trump said. “Families have given food and shelter to those in need. Houses of worship have organized efforts to clean up communities and repair damaged homes. People have never seen anything quite like this. Individuals of every background are striving for the same goal: To aid and comfort people facing devastating losses.”

Trump traveled on Saturday with several members of his Cabinet — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke — as well as some senior White House staffers, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Hope Hicks.