USTR report lists Korea's defense policy, rules on emissions, beef imports as trade barriers
Published: 01 Apr. 2025, 16:30
![This captured image shows the front cover of the U.S. Trade Representative's 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on foreign trade barriers. [SCREEN CAPTURE/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/205d079c-364e-4b50-88ea-2b08ba5a1fea.jpg)
This captured image shows the front cover of the U.S. Trade Representative's 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on foreign trade barriers. [SCREEN CAPTURE/YONHAP]
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Monday released an annual report on foreign trade barriers that listed Korea's "offset" defense trade policy, emissions-related regulations on imported cars and pricing policies for pharmaceuticals, to name a few.
The Office of the USTR issued the 2025 National Trade Estimate Report (NTE) two days before the Trump administration plans to roll out "reciprocal" tariffs to equalize what other countries impose on U.S. exports. The new tariffs are to be customized based on trading partners' tariff- and nontariff barriers, and other factors, including exchange rates.
For the first time, the report mentioned Korea's defense offset trade program under which Seoul has set certain conditions for foreign defense contractors to meet for defense industrial cooperation when they engage in key government procurement projects.
"The Korean government has pursued policies that prioritize local technology and products over foreign defense technology through its defense offset program," the report said. "An offset obligation may arise for a foreign contractor should the value of the defense contract exceed $10 million."
First introduced in the early 1980s, Korea's offset program has set conditions, such as technology transfers, the purchase of Korean-made component parts and other forms of defense industrial cooperation, before selecting foreign contractors to supply expensive defense goods, such as fighter jets.
Other countries are also known to have a similar offset trade program in light of industrial cooperation.
On the motor vehicle front, the report noted that the U.S. government has raised concerns about Korea's emissions-related component regulations under Korea's Clean Air Conservation Act, as it stressed increased access to the Asian country's automotive market for U.S. automakers remains a "key priority" for the United States.
The report also pointed out the U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device industries' concerns over what they called a lack of transparency in Korea's pricing and reimbursement policies and a lack of substantive opportunities for stakeholder input into proposed policy changes.
It listed many issues already cited in last year's edition, including the introduction of bills in Korea's legislature that would require foreign content providers to pay network usage fees to Korean Internet service providers.
Also among the issues was Korea's consideration of efforts to regulate dominant digital service platforms to ensure fair competition.
![U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order related to the U.S. live entertainment ticketing industry in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 31. [REUTERS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/6b1f82b1-b4f9-45aa-b76f-199d59d61a81.jpg)
U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order related to the U.S. live entertainment ticketing industry in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 31. [REUTERS]
"These proposals would apply to a number of large U.S. companies operating in the Korean market," it said. "The proposals also appear to apply to two large Korean companies, but exclude a number of other major Korean companies as well as companies from other countries."
As it did in the 2024 report, the report mentioned Korea's import ban on American beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, calling the restriction a "transitional measure."
"This 'transitional measure' has remained in place for 16 years," it said. "In addition, Korea continues to prohibit the import of processed beef products, including ground beef patties, beef jerky and sausage, regardless of age."
The NTE is an annual report submitted to the president and Congress by March 31 of each year.
"Under [President Donald Trump's] leadership, this administration is working diligently to address these unfair and nonreciprocal practices, helping restore fairness and put hard-working American businesses and workers first in the global market," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was quoted as saying in a release.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)