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U.S., South Korea Sign Updated Free Trade Deal
South Korea and the U.S. formally updated their KORUS free-trade agreement on Monday, cinching President Donald Trump’s first major trade deal.
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South Korea and the U.S. formally updated their KORUS free-trade agreement on Monday, cinching President Donald Trump’s first major trade deal.
Terms of the update, which must be approved by Korea’s Parliament, were announced six months ago. Trade experts describe the result as a minor update to the previous pact, known as KORUS. Trump describes the deal as a “brand new agreement.”
The accord allows each U.S. carmaker to ship as many as 50,000 vehicles per year to Korea—double the previous cap—without retrofitting them to meet Korean safety requirements. Last year General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. each shipped fewer than 10,000 vehicles to Korea.
Korea further agreed to allow the U.S. to extend its current 25% import tariffs on Korean trucks by 20 years to 2041. The change has no immediate impact on Korean carmakers, none of whom currently export trucks to the U.S.
Bloomberg notes that Korean lawmakers caution that they will reject the agreement if the U.S. imposes tariffs on imported Korean-made car parts.
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