page_title: United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement
section_title: Renegotiation, 2016–2018
hierarchical_section_title: United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement / History / Renegotiation, 2016–2018
caption_attribution_description: President Donald J. Trump and the President of the Republic of South Korea Moon Jae-in deliver remarks after signing the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, at the Lotte New York Palace in New York. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow attend. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
context_page_description: The United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement, also known as KORUS FTA, is a trade agreement between the United States and South Korea. Negotiations were announced on February 2, 2006, and concluded on April 1, 2007. The treaty was first signed on June 30, 2007, with a renegotiated version signed in early December 2010.
  The agreement was ratified by the United States on October 12, 2011, with the Senate passing it 83–15 and the House 278–151. It was ratified by the National Assembly of South Korea on November 22, 2011, with a vote of 151–7, with 12 abstentions. The agreement entered into effect in March 2012. Another renegotiation took place from late 2017 to late March 2018, when an agreement was reached between both governments.
  The trade agreement involves an estimated 362 million consumers in the United States and the Republic of Korea. The treaty's provisions eliminate 95% of each nation's tariffs on goods within five years, and create new protections for multinational financial services and other firms.
context_section_description: During the United States presidential campaign of 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump described the United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement as a "job-killing trade deal".
  On April 27, 2017, President Trump announced his intention to renegotiate or terminate the treaty, describing it as a "one-way street" and "a Hillary Clinton disaster, a deal that should've never been made", characterizing the resulting situation as "We're getting destroyed in Korea"
   and that "It's a horrible deal, and we are going to renegotiate that deal or terminate it."
  According to Trump, "We've told them that we'll either terminate or negotiate; we may terminate", while South Korea's Ministry of Trade said it had yet to receive a request to open renegotiations.
  On September 2, 2017, President Trump said he was weighing whether to soon start the process of withdrawing from the agreement. Trump said he was consulting with his top advisors, some of whom supported withdrawal and some of whom – including Gary Cohn, President Trump's chief economic advisor – did not. The United States Chamber of Commerce expressed opposition to withdrawing from the agreement. By October 4, 2017, the Trump administration had backed away from considering a full withdrawal from KORUS FTA and instead agreed with South Korea to renegotiate the deal.
  On March 16, 2018, The third round of Korea-U.S. FTA talks has begun. The talks concluded later on March 27, when an agreement in principle was reached between the Trump administration and the South Korean government. The terms included an increase of annual U.S. auto exports from 25,000 vehicles to 50,000 that are only required to meet U.S. safety regulations instead of South Korean regulations. A cap will also be placed on steel exports from South Korea to the United States, though South Korea will remain exempt from the 25% steel tariff the Trump administration placed on most other nations. On the 24th of September, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in signed the new agreement at the Lotte Palace hotel in New York City.
  Critics did not see any benefit for the United States in these provisions, given the number of exports to South Korea was unlike to reach the lower quota, and Korean car makers were not importing trucks into the United States.
caption: President Donald Trump and the President of South Korea Moon Jae-in deliver remarks after signing the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement on September 24, 2018
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