South Korea–U.S. Trade Deal: Better Late Than Never

Bryan Riley / December 06, 2010

When the proposed South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) was initially signed on June 30, 2007, Heritage Foundation analysts recognized significant benefits that would come from implementation of this landmark trade deal. Those benefits included more exports, more export-related jobs, and a stronger economy. As the Obama Administration has pointed out, the agreement would increase U.S. exports by billions of dollars and create tens of thousands of new export-related jobs.

KORUS would also strengthen the U.S. economy by reducing domestic trade barriers that act like a tax on American consumers and businesses, such as the “temporary” 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks that has been driving up prices ever since the U.S. government imposed it in 1963. As economic theory and facts reported in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom demonstrate, reducing trade barriers—including those we place on ourselves—increases our economic growth. Exports are good, but imports create jobs for Americans, too. Just ask the longshoremen, truck drivers, lawyers, accountants, marketers, and sales clerks whose livelihoods depend on the streams of imported goods that increase our standard of living. (more…)