United States of America

Two years and nine months have passed since Korea and the United States put their signatures on the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). Nei- ther Korea nor the United…

The relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea is unique; the challenges it faces are not. Next-generation views of the ties between Seoul and Washington do not…

As the U.S. economic crisis was just getting off the ground, many analysts claimed Asia would be relatively immune to the impact because its economies had “decoupled” from the United…

Given the growing importance of East Asia to global stability and prosperity, sustaining the five U.S. treaty alliances in the region—Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines—will…

The market roiled, web searches spiked, and the media was in a frenzy after President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs. Not surprisingly, the 10 percent baseline tariff on all goods with an additional “discounted” reciprocal tariff generated mostly negative reactions. As the president held up a large placard explaining that nearly every country…

From March 19 to 21, 2025, the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) led a Future of Korea (FOK) delegation to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with KEI’s Economic Policy Analyst Tom Ramage, the U.S. Department of State’s Military Advisor for Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian Affairs Ki Suh Jung, and the South Korean Embassy’s First Secretary Hae…

The United States is poised to escalate its trade brinkmanship once again. On April 2, the Donald Trump administration is expected to unveil a sweeping new tariff regime under the banner of “reciprocal tariffs,” aimed at countries with significant trade surpluses with the United States—including close allies like South Korea. White House officials purport they…

Shipbuilding is quickly emerging as an area for potential cooperation between the United States and South Korea. The former needs ships, and the latter is a major manufacturer of them, which makes it natural that the two allies would partner on this issue. Ships are critical to facilitating international trade and defending the maritime lines…

Please join KEI and KIEP for a discussion about the first 10 years of KORUS and the future of the U.S.-Korea economic relationship.