Trump Claims in Congressional Speech: "Korea's Tariffs Are Four Times Higher Than the U.S."
Effective Tariff Rate on U.S. Imports Is 0.79% as of 2024
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has rebutted U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that "Korea's average tariffs are four times higher than those of the United States."
On the 5th, the ministry issued a joint press release with related agencies, stating, "Under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that came into effect in 2012, both countries eliminated tariffs on most goods," and "As of 2024, the effective tariff rate on imports from the U.S. is about 0.79%." The effective tariff rate is calculated by dividing tariff revenue by the total import value from the U.S., and does not consider refunds.
On the 4th (local time), during a congressional speech at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., President Trump claimed, "Many other countries impose much higher tariffs on us than we impose on them," adding, "India imposes tariffs exceeding 100% on our automotive products, China's average tariffs on our products are twice what we impose on theirs, and Korea's average tariffs are four times higher."
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy believes that Trump's claim of four times is based on the applied tariff rate. A ministry official explained, "Korea's Most Favored Nation (MFN) applied tariff rate is 13.4% as of 2024, while the U.S. rate is 3.3%, making Korea about four times higher than the U.S. However, this rate applies to World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries without bilateral agreements and is a different concept from the Korea-U.S. FTA tariff rates applied to goods imported from the U.S. to Korea."
The government plans to actively explain these details through various consultation channels with the United States in the future.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
