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Korea's age restriction on beef is just one of many nontariff barriers Trump might hit back on

Published: 14 Mar. 2025, 18:38 Updated: 14 Mar. 2025, 23:49

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

U.S. beef is displayed at a supermarket in Seoul March 12. [YONHAP]

The U.S. beef industry’s request for the Donald Trump administration’s help in lifting Korea’s age restriction for beef has raised alarm bells among Korean cattle growers and consumers for its contentious history in the East Asian country. But it is just one of many nontariff barriers American producers deem unfair that the U.S. president could launch retaliatory measures against.

The U.S. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association asked in an open letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday that Washington consult with Korea to remove its ban on the import of beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.

The measure is put in place as a safeguard against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease, which does not develop fully in young cattle. It is a restriction implemented by multiple nations, including Britain.

Seoul's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs considers the chances slim that the United States will request the ban's removal. It concerns an issue highly politicized in Korea that even the U.S. cattlemen's association acknowledged is “sensitive.”

Korea is already the biggest importer of U.S. beef, with 48.1 percent of its beef coming from the United States last year — $940 million worth of refrigerated beef and $1.2 billion of frozen beef — according to the Korea International Trade Association, making it the top importer in both categories.

The amount is expected to increase further after Korea’s tariffs on U.S. beef are completely dropped next year.

But Hur Yoon, a professor at Seogang University’s Graduate School of International Studies, thinks the United States will rely more on trade partners as it levies, and is hit with reciprocation for, tariffs on agricultural products from countries including China.

“The U.S. market has been reduced due to its trade war with China, and will have to expand exports of surplus products to markets such as Korea,” Hur said.

“They might request more imports for other agricultural and livestock products as well,” he added.

The issue goes beyond beef — Trump may consider such restrictions nontariff barriers and use them as an excuse to retaliate. The U.S. president said he would consider not only tariffs but also unfair trade policies, such as nontariff barriers, when imposing reciprocal tariffs for trade partners of the United States.

The USTR received comments on unfair trade practices in various industries by other countries up to March 11 that are now disclosed on its website.

Korea’s subsidiaries, cheap electricity, drug cost regulations, its foreign currency exchange management, labor union suppression and electrical outlet regulations were among the suggested issues to be corrected.

The American Iron and Steel Institute, for instance, argued in its letter to the USTR that the Korean government supports domestic steel companies through “preferential loans from government banks, export loans, equity infusions, tax exemptions and grants."

"It is likely that the United States, with the aim of reducing its trade deficit, will pressure Korea under the pretext of nontariff barriers,” Park Sung-hoon, professor at Korea University's Graduate School of International Studies, said.

"[Korea] needs to symbolically get rid of nontariffs requested by U.S. industries or the government that have become ineffective due to a change in the industrial environment, such as screen quotas, and protect what is essential," Park said.

BY KIM JU-YEON,KIM WON,IM SOUNG-BIN,KIM HYOUNG-GU [[email protected]]