BEEF, BARLEY, BUTTER, AND BOURBON: WILL U.S. AGRICULTURE BENEFIT FROM THE KORUS FTA?

On October 19, KEI hosted a discussion of agriculture and the KORUS FTA. As a small, mountainous country, Korea has a limited amount of arable land. As result, it imports around half of its agricultural needs. In 2009, this meant that the Korean market was worth $15 billion to global agricultural exporters, with $3.9 billion coming from the United States. However, Korea currently has FTAs – ASEAN and the EU – or is negotiating FTAs – Australia and New Zealand – with most of the United States’ major competitors in the Korean agricultural market. The panelists discussed the current state of the U.S. agricultural industry in Korea, the future challenges it faces, and whether the U.S. agricultural industry will still benefit from the KORUS FTA.