How Will KORUS FTA Affect U.S. Exports to South Korea?
South Korea is our sixth-largest food and agricultural export market. The United States already supplies a wide range of agricultural products to South Korea including corn, soybeans, wheat, and processed foods. In 2004, South Korea imported $14.7 billion in agricultural products to satisfy the demand from its increasingly affluent consumers. In 2006, about $3.2 billion came from the United States making us South Koreas largest foreign supplier of these items. KORUS FTA will create highly valuable new export opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers by eliminating and phasing out tariffs and quotas on a broad range of products. Under the agreement, over $1.9 billion worth of U.S. farm exports to South Korea will become duty-free immediately. Most remaining tariffs and quotas will be phased out over the first 10 years the agreement is in force. This agreement will also help our producers compete against those in countries such as China and Australia, which are making inroads into the
