Korea Trade Agreement

The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as KORUS, entered into force on March 15, 2012, providing American agriculture with improved access to Korea’s $1 trillion economy and 49 million consumers.

With the agreement, almost two-thirds of U.S. farm products exports became duty free immediately, including wheat, corn, soybeans for crushing, whey for feed use, hides and skins, cotton, cherries, pistachios, almonds, orange juice, grape juice, and wine. Other farm products benefitted from immediate duty-free access within new tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), including skim milk powder, whey for food use, cheese, dextrins and modified starches, barley, popcorn, soybeans for food use, dehydrated and table potatoes, honey, and hay. Korea’s 40-percent tariff on U.S. beef will be eliminated over 15 years and, by 2016, more than 90 percent of pork exports became duty-free.

On the regulatory side, the agreement established a committee to enhance cooperation and consultation on sanitary and phytosanitary matters with the objective of achieving regulatory harmonization through the use of international standards and guidelines, including those of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Detailed information about this and other free trade agreements is available from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.