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ManuFACTS: U.S.-Korea Free Trade AgreementA Win-Win for Korean Consumers and U.S. Manufacturers

1331 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004 P 202•637•3000  F 202•637•3182 www.nam.org

• Korea offers U.S. manufacturers a growing opportunity for exports within

a dynamic and expanding market. Korea is our seventh-largest trading

partner and is a crucial export destination for U.S. manufacturing. Korea

is one of the fastest-growing industrial economies in Asia, and its GDP

has grown by 67 percent since 2000, according to the International Monetary 

Fund (IMF).

• Small and medium-sized manufacturers will strongly benefit from the

U.S.-Korea agreement: nearly 19,000 small and medium-sized companies

export goods to Korea, representing 90 percent of total U.S. exporters.

• Manufactured goods are the vast majority of U.S. exports to Korea. In

2010, the U.S. exported $31.6 billion worth of manufactured goods to

Korea, and Korea was our fastest-growing export destination in the world,

with a 37 percent increase over 2009 exports. Manufactured goods make

up over 75 percent of total U.S. merchandise exports to Korea.

• The U.S.-Korea free trade agreement (FTA) will result in an $8 billion increase

in exports of U.S. manufactured goods to Korea, according to the U.S.

International Trade Commission (USITC).

• These exports include $6.5 billion in machinery, $6 billion in chemicals, $6

billion in computer and electronics products, $3.8 billion in transportation

products and $2.3 billion in processed food products.

How Congress Can Help

• This trade agreement is a deficit-neutral, job-creating economic stimulus package. This preferential trade

agreement will increase U.S. manufacturing exports to Korea. The Obama Administration needs to send thistrade agreement to Congress for approval as quickly as possible, and Congress should act immediately to

pass the implementing legislation.

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Bottom LineThe U.S.-Korea trade agreement offers real advantages to the

manufacturing sector:

• U.S. manufactured goods face an effective average tariff of 9

percent in Korea. This agreement will lower these tariffs to

zero, in most cases immediately. The agreement also has

state-of-the-art language protecting intellectual property

rights (IPR), government procurement and U.S. investments

in Korea.

• Failure to pass the agreement could cause the U.S. to loseour strong presence as a market leader—the European

Union’s trade agreement takes effect on July 1, 2011, and the

EU is already a larger manufacturing exporter to Korea than

the United States. We will lose our market share in crucial

export sectors in Korea without the preferential terms of this

agreement. To keep our exports strong, we need the U.S.-

Korea trade agreement.

More Information

Web: www.nam.org/trade

E-mail: trade@nam.org

 April 2011