The National Assembly’s committee on trade and industry has held an emergency inquiry session on the closure of a General Motors(GM) factory in Gunsan as well as the U.S.’ trade protectionist moves, including high tariffs on South Korean steel.

During the session on Wednesday, ruling Democratic Party representative Baek Jae-hyun blasted the state-run Korea Development Bank, which owns a 17 percent stake in GM Korea, for failing to point out the company had run up a deficit of two-point-five trillion won over four years.

Industry minister Paik Un-gyu also indicated that the industrial bank’s response had been insufficient, saying that a preemptive response would have been ideal.

Paik criticized GM Korea’s lack of transparency, pointing to various managerial issues such as the high rate of cost of sales, high interest on loans and unreasonable financial contribution toward its parent company.

He cast suspicion that the company had deliberately prevented disclosing specific sales strategies or figures — deeming them trade secrets.

Meanwhile, main opposition Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Kim Ki-sun accused the government of mishandling relations with the U.S., which he suggested had resulted in South Korea becoming the only U.S. allied country to be hit with trade pressure and retaliatory tariffs.

In response, Paik said such trade actions had come after U.S. President Donald Trump outlined protectionist measures throughout his presidential campaign and relevant surveys were conducted last year. He stressed when it comes to solar panels, South Korea is not the only target, and that Europe is also seeing losses as a result of the safeguards.