Korea achieves 50.8% increase in trade surplus against U.S.A last year

Korean goods trade surplus against the U.S.A. rose 50.8 percent last year, while the United States posted the biggest trade deficit on record during the same period, intensifying worries about import restrictions.

According to a report from the United States Department of Commerce on Feb. 22, export to the U.S.A stood at $40.3 billion, up 29.3 percent from a year ago, and the trade surplus marked $12.4 billion, growing 50.89 percent.

Export increase rates surpassed other competitive Asian countries such as China, which saw a 22.3 percent increase, and Taiwan, which posted a 12.3 percent increase, as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries, Mexico and Canada, which posted a 23.9 percent and 19.3 percent increase respectively.
Of special note concerning trade surpluses with the U.S.A., United Kingdom and Canada showed higher trade surplus increase rates, marking 126.5 percent and 57.0 percent, respectively. According to this result, the Korean share of the American import product market rose to 3.3 percent from 3.0 percent in 1999.

A KOTRA official pointed out that Korea has had problems dealing with trade pressure from the U.S., because Korean exports focus on a few select items such as cars, electronics, and steel.