USTR of the US Evaluates "Korea's Trade Barriers Similar to Previous Years"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The United States Trade Representative (USTR) evaluated that South Korea's trade barriers this year are at a similar level to previous years.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 1st that USTR recently released the "2021 National Trade Barriers Report" containing this information.

USTR publishes an annual trade barriers report regularly under Section 181 of the Trade Act. Based on difficulties raised by stakeholders such as companies and organizations within the U.S. entering overseas markets, it evaluates trade barriers of over 60 major trading countries including South Korea, China, the European Union (EU), and Japan.

In this report, USTR positively evaluated the revised Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that came into effect in January 2019. It also described progress made regarding South Korea's trade barriers and issues of interest to the U.S. side.

The Ministry stated that USTR mentioned major U.S. concerns such as drug prices, automobile environmental standards, competition policy, and digital trade at levels similar to previous years, and deleted some issues that have been closely communicated between the two countries, such as certain automobile environmental standards. For example, although the U.S. had expressed concerns about the low-emission vehicle supply target system, the related issue was removed from this report following the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Air Quality Preservation Act in South Korea last March.

Earlier, the Ministry submitted the government's opinion on the trade barriers report in February. Additionally, efforts have been made to reflect South Korea's position through the Korea-U.S. FTA Implementation Committee and other channels.

An official from the Ministry said, "We will thoroughly analyze and prepare countermeasures through consultations with domestic stakeholders and relevant ministries regarding the issues raised in the report," adding, "We will also closely discuss these matters with the U.S. side using various consultation channels such as the Korea-U.S. FTA implementation committees."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.