South Korea's Trade Surplus with the U.S. Drops to 14th Place

Decline for Two Consecutive Years

(Photo by Reuters)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] In the first half of this year, South Korea's ranking in the size of trade surplus with the United States fell two places to 14th compared to last year.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 8th, South Korea's trade surplus with the U.S. in the first half of this year was $11.942 billion (approximately 13.7154 trillion KRW), a 12.7% increase from the first half of last year ($10.601 billion).

During this period, the global trade surplus with the U.S. increased by 25.3%. Accordingly, among about 200 countries trading with the U.S., South Korea's surplus ranking dropped from 12th in the first half of last year to 14th this year.

South Korea's surplus ranking, which was 10th in 2019 based on the first half of the year, has declined for two consecutive years.

The country with the largest trade surplus with the U.S. in the first half of this year was China, reaching $158.548 billion (182 trillion 924 billion KRW).

This accounts for about 30% of the total global trade surplus with the U.S.

Following China, the second largest surplus country was Mexico ($52.91 billion), with Vietnam ($42.095 billion), Germany ($33.48 billion), and Japan ($30.313 billion) ranking within the top five.