Updates have been made to the Korea-U.S. trade agreement. Under the new pact recently released, vehicle exports and imports between the countries will be modified. South Korea also made an adjustment to limit their steel exports to fall within the quota that will now exempt them from the 25 percent tariff. The new trade policies under KORUS will help improve the trade balance and strengthen our security relationship. It is projected the U.S. will seek comparable agreements with other countries, including Canada and Mexico as they discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement regarding the agreement in principle reached by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Republic of Korea Minister for Trade Hyun Chong Kim regarding modifications to KORUS:
“I applaud President Trump, Ambassador Lighthizer and the U.S. trade team for partnering with the Republic of Korea to modernize KORUS and protect the strong agricultural components that were built into the pact. Korea has long been an important trading partner for U.S. agriculture and currently ranks as our sixth-highest value market. U.S. agricultural exports to the country have increased 95 percent over the past decade and we look forward to continued growth. Through this new agreement in principle, progress was also made with regard to Korea’s customs verification procedures, which have been a substantial concern related to exports of U.S. agricultural and industrial goods.”
