This Sunday marks the third anniversary of Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.
To tell us more about the economic impact of the agreement on the bilateral trade,… our Shin Se-min joins us live in the studio.
So Se-min, give us a progress report.
It's not easy to give a grade on this... but the trade pact has brought up the bilateral trade volume.
And the level of on-year growth was the highest last year... coming in at over 115 billion U.S. dollars last year... up more than 11 percent.
This is larger than the level of average growth we saw with other countries... which is in the 2 percent range.
Let me bring this chart up here,… you see that Korean exports to the U.S. grew... from 58-billion U.S. dollars three years ago,... to over 70 billion last year.
So the free trade agreement effect is... there.
But we can't overlook the fact that the U.S. economic recovery also played a role... boosting U.S. consumption.
But the market share of Korean products in the U.S. market is at mere 3 percent.
That doesn't seem to be enough,... does it?
It may not seem like a lot.
But the experts that I talked to say that it was a well-played game,... especially after the competition with the cheap Japanese products.
They seemed to focus on the fact that Korea has managed to increase its market share while dealing with the weaker Japanese yen.
Great. But hear me out. I haven't felt that this free trade agreement with the U.S. has benefitted me at all. I go grocery shopping, and products like oranges, cherries, imported form the U.S. are still expensive. Why haven't consumers like myself felt the difference yet?
Yes. You're right. It all simmers down to the distribution channel. Listen to this.
"The distribution channel for agricultural goods is to blame for pricey U.S. produce. The distribution system for such produce is much weaker than that for industrial products. So unless cherries or lemons are things that every Korean consumes on a daily basis,... the import volume wo
To tell us more about the economic impact of the agreement on the bilateral trade,… our Shin Se-min joins us live in the studio.
So Se-min, give us a progress report.
It's not easy to give a grade on this... but the trade pact has brought up the bilateral trade volume.
And the level of on-year growth was the highest last year... coming in at over 115 billion U.S. dollars last year... up more than 11 percent.
This is larger than the level of average growth we saw with other countries... which is in the 2 percent range.
Let me bring this chart up here,… you see that Korean exports to the U.S. grew... from 58-billion U.S. dollars three years ago,... to over 70 billion last year.
So the free trade agreement effect is... there.
But we can't overlook the fact that the U.S. economic recovery also played a role... boosting U.S. consumption.
But the market share of Korean products in the U.S. market is at mere 3 percent.
That doesn't seem to be enough,... does it?
It may not seem like a lot.
But the experts that I talked to say that it was a well-played game,... especially after the competition with the cheap Japanese products.
They seemed to focus on the fact that Korea has managed to increase its market share while dealing with the weaker Japanese yen.
Great. But hear me out. I haven't felt that this free trade agreement with the U.S. has benefitted me at all. I go grocery shopping, and products like oranges, cherries, imported form the U.S. are still expensive. Why haven't consumers like myself felt the difference yet?
Yes. You're right. It all simmers down to the distribution channel. Listen to this.
"The distribution channel for agricultural goods is to blame for pricey U.S. produce. The distribution system for such produce is much weaker than that for industrial products. So unless cherries or lemons are things that every Korean consumes on a daily basis,... the import volume wo
Category
🗞
News