Economic recovery, not FTA, led to increase in U.S. imports from Korea: official

U.S. imports from South Korea have risen in recent years mainly because the U.S. economy has picked up, a senior Korean official said Wednesday, rejecting Donald Trump's claims that the free trade deal between the two countries is to blame for U.S. trade deficits with South Korea.

In an attempt to rally support from voters struggling with economic woes, the Republican presidential nominee has slammed free trade deals as a source of American economic problems. He has denounced the agreement with South Korea as a "job killing" deal, a "disaster," and a "perfect" example of "broken promises."

Trump claims the pact ended up increasing U.S. imports from South Korea while failing to increase exports.

"The increase in U.S. imports is because the U.S. economy has gotten better," the South Korean official told reporters on condition of anonymity, emphasizing that it is actually the U.S., not South Korea, that benefited more from the trade deal.

"It is not true that U.S. trade deficits with South Korea increased due to" the trade deal, he said.

Trade data have shown that some two-thirds of the increase in South Korea's exports to the United States over the past four years came from the trade in items that did not enjoy tariff cuts under the free trade agreement that has been in effect since 2012.

According to the data, South Korea's exports of items benefiting from FTA tariff cuts rose by only $5.4 billion between 2011 and last year while the exports of items ineligible for tariff cuts jumped by nearly $10 billion during the same period.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said in a report in late June that the Korea deal has been good for American interests, saying the agreement is estimated to have improved bilateral merchandise trade balances by $15.8 billion last year.

That means that had it not been for the deal, the U.S. trade deficits would have been larger.

The official said that South Korea is trying to get the facts straight through various channels with the Trump campaign, but it would be difficult to expect any immediate change because blaming free trade deals is one of the campaign's strategies. (Yonhap)