Origin Criteria Affect Korean Textile Exports to the United States

The free trade agreements between South Korea and South Korea and the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, which came into force successively in July and October this year, have begun to play their due role in the expectations of all walks of life. However, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of South Korea, the impact of the two major free trade agreements (FTAs) on the Korean textile industry has varied in the recent period. South Korea’s exports of textiles and clothing to the EU have increased by about 17%. At the same time, exports to the United States have fallen by 1.1% compared with the same period last year, that is, before the agreement took effect. This phenomenon has caused South Korea's textile companies to suffer.

Insiders pointed out that the reason for this phenomenon is that the two major markets have different regulations on the origin of export products. In the Korea-US FTA agreement, the standards for the identification of raw materials that can enjoy tariff preferences are very rigorous, and the Korean-FTA agreement is The regulations stipulate that even if imported yarns are used for manufacturing in Korea, they can still enjoy the relevant tariff preferences. Due to the great differences in the origin certification standards of the two major agreements, South Korea's major fiber textile import and export companies have made painstaking efforts in the use and certification of raw materials. The Korea-US FTA agreement, which has relatively strict certification standards, has affected the quantity of South Korean textiles exported to the United States to some extent.