South Korea’s position in the U.S. import market shrank relative to key competitors, reflecting the impact of U.S. tariffs, according to an analysis released Tuesday.
The Korea International Trade Association, citing U.S. Commerce Department trade data, said the United States imported $113.4 billion in goods from South Korea in the January-November period last year, down 5.9% from the same period a year earlier.
South Korea accounted for 3.6% of total U.S. imports, ranking ninth among the top 10 suppliers. That was down two places from the previous year and the lowest level since the association began tracking the data in 1988.
From 2009, South Korea held the No. 6 or No. 7 spot for 15 years. In 2024, just before the launch of the Donald Trump administration, it ranked seventh with a 4.0% share.
The top eight U.S. import sources last year were Mexico ($492.5 billion, 15.7%), Canada ($351.2 billion, 11.2%), China ($287.3 billion, 9.2%), Taiwan ($176.7 billion, 5.6%), Vietnam ($175.3 billion, 5.6%), Germany ($140.8 billion, 4.5%), Japan ($133.8 billion, 4.3%) and Ireland ($129.7 billion, 4.1%).
The association said South Korea’s slide suggests it was hit harder than rivals by the Trump administration’s broad tariff policy. Taiwan and Ireland, which ranked below South Korea in 2024, moved ahead last year.
Taiwan, a key competitor to South Korea in foundry chipmaking, jumped to fourth place from eighth in 2024, with its share rising to 5.6% from 3.6%. The report said Taiwan has faced a temporary 20% reciprocal tariff because it has not completed a trade deal with the Trump administration, but semiconductors are subject to separate product tariffs and were not directly affected.
South Korea, by contrast, took a bigger hit as major exports such as automobiles, steel and machinery were subject to high tariffs, the association said.
Japan, which the association said has a trade structure similar to South Korea’s due to its strong manufacturing base in autos and semiconductors, also slipped two places, to seventh from fifth.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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