WTC Arkansas Trade Mission to Korea

Following up from our last blog post about the effects of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, our Director of Asia Trade Development, Mr. Boon Tan, has recently returned from an exploratory trade mission to Korea, accompanied by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) and the Arkansas Farm Bureau. The trade mission, lasting from June 21 to July 10, focused on building a strategic trade relationship between Arkansas and Korea and included many visits to various Korean companies for the purposes of exploring future beneficial trade opportunities for Arkansas business.




Boon Tan, Director of Asia Trade Development (center) visits World Trade Center Suwon, Korea to network. Suwon is a major educational center in South Korea as well as the headquarters location of Samsung Electronics.



Randy Veach, president of Arkansas Farm Bureau and his delegation meet with Ted Taeho Lee - Director General for Free Trade Agreement Policy, Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Boon Tan pays a visit to EMart in Seoul, Korea. EMart is the largest retailer in Korea and the first Korea retailer to advance into China.



Boon Tan viewing EMart grocery products


Boon visited Korean Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). From left to right: Kim, Hyun Tae - Director Consumer Goods Industry Marketing Team, Boon Tan, Yoon, Jae Chun - Director General Overseas Research Department and Lee Jeong Seon - Manager.

Korea-US FTA: Implications for Arkansas

Negotiations for the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) have been underway since 2007, when President George W. Bush signed the agreement into existence.Since then, the Obama administration has taken proactive measures to ensure the agreement's final passage, having visited South Korea in 2009.

Once confirmed, the agreement will the first Free Trade Agreement ever signed between the U.S. and a North Asian country. In a White House press release from December of last year, President Obama stated of the KORUS FTA, "We are strengthening our ability to create and defend manufacturing jobs in the United States; increasing exports of agricultural products for American farmers and ranchers; and opening Korea’s services market to American companies."

Results from the KORUS FTA could be dramatic. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, estimates indicate that the reduction of Korean tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on goods alone would add $10 billion to $12 billion to annual U.S. Gross Domestic Product and around $10 billion to annual merchandise exports to Korea.

Under the FTA, nearly 95 percent of bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products would become duty free within three years of the date the FTA enters into force, and most remaining tariffs would be eliminated within 10 years.

Yet, what of the implications for Arkansas? As detailed in our last blog post, Arkansas has benefited from steady increase in strong export shipments of merchandise. In 2009 exports totaled $5.3 billion; this was a gain of 36 percent since 2005, and Arkansas has almost doubled the U.S. goods exports over the same period.

Recent Arkansas trade statistics by category include the following below:

Chemicals- 51%
Food Manufactures- 15%
Metal Fabrication- 12%
Electrical Equipment,
Appliance and Components- 6%
All Other Categories- 18%

The effects of KORUS FTA include the elimination of consumer and industrial tariffs within five years, as well as portions of the U.S. agricultural exports tariffs immediately on entry. Consequently Arkansas is expected to see extensive growth in Chemical Manufacturing, Processed Foods and Agriculture, particularly soybeans, poultry and cotton.

Who Exports From Arkansas?

Wal-Mart in China. McDonalds in India. Globalization is a byword these days: inescapably present in media, the classroom, and popular culture. Yet the vital life-force behind globalization—international trade—is often considered a phrase that belongs exclusively to the glamorous world of multimillion dollar corporate transactions. Exporting may seem far removed from a small business operating in the Midwest, yet a look at statistics gives interesting insights that possibly prove the opposite. While, as a percentage, small and medium sized businesses account for only 30% of total U.S. export value, they account for 97% of the country’s actual exporters. The trend is rapidly increasing as more and more small business owners find that the benefits increased sales, market share, and diversification of risk soon outweigh the initial hurdle of capital, while the opening up of free trade agreements in Australia, Chile, Singapore, Jordan, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Central America as well as elsewhere are creating more opportunities than ever before. And what about Arkansas? Many are surprised to even learn of the existence of a World Trade Center in Arkansas. Yet constantly we are kept busy helping businesses--many of them SMEs-achieve their goals through our trade development and market research services.

Below are some facts and statistics about Arkansas exports from the U.S. Department of Commerce:

Exports sustain over a thousand Arkansas businesses.

• A total of 1,583 companies exported goods from Arkansas locations in 2008.
• Of those, 1,218 (77 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 17 percent of Arkansas' total exports of merchandise in 2008.

Arkansas depends on world markets.

• Arkansas's export shipments of merchandise in 2010 totaled $5.2 billion.

• The state's largest market was Canada. Arkansas posted merchandise exports of $1.4 billion to Canada in 2010, 26 percent of the state’s total merchandise exports.

• Canada was followed by Mexico ($544 million), China ($336 million), Japan ($334 million), and the United Kingdom ($168 million).

Exports support jobs for Arkansas workers.

• Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 5.3 percent of Arkansas’ total private-sector employment.
• One-seventh (14.4 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Arkansas depend on exports for their jobs.

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