Essay
The United States-Korea free trade agreement (KORUS) and its impact on China’s textile and apparel exports to the United States
Findings about the evaluation of these impacts, with special focused on diversion effects of the KORUS indicate:
• China and South Korea were much more similar in the T&A exports to the United States in 2005 than 2010. With regard to disaggregated T&A products, South Korea and China were more similar in their apparel exports than their exports in yarn & fiber, made-up textile or fabrics in 2010
. • KORUS tariff cuts in South Korea exports caused the decrease in the quantity of china’s export.
• The trade diversion effects of the KORUS demonstrated that apparel is the most effective category in China’s T&A exports to the United States. KORUS will also have negative limited impacts on china’s exports in other categories.
As most other research, this study also has limitations and, therefore, future research opportunities. First, researchers could consider more products besides apparel, in competition between the T&A export of China and South Korea to the United States. Another limitation is, the researcher could examine how KORUS could be expanded to Asian countries as well