‘Quota Tariff’ US Tangerine Imports Jump… Tariff-Free Starting Next Year

Published 2025년 2월 10일

Tridge summary

The article highlights the significant increase in American tangerine (mandarin) imports into South Korea, which rose nearly fivefold in 2023 to 2,874 tons, largely due to the impending removal of tariffs under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2026. This surge is attributed to both the lower tariffs resulting from the FTA and South Korea's quota tariff policy, intended for price stabilization. Despite concerns about the potential impact on domestic tangerine producers, the government plans to continue applying a 20% quota tariff on mandarin imports for 2024, while the current 9.5% import tariff on US mandarins under the FTA is expected to further reduce import costs. The article raises concerns about the quota tariff's effect on domestic producers, particularly with mandarins being more similar to local tangerines than oranges, and discusses the broader implications of trade agreements on domestic agricultural markets.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

As tariffs on American tangerines (mandarins) are scheduled to be abolished starting next year under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the government’s quota tariff policy has led to a sharp increase in imports last year. Criticism has been raised that the government has taken the lead in opening up the import market by applying excessive quota tariffs to items that can directly compete with domestic tangerines. According to the Korea Customs Service, last year’s mandarin imports were 2,874 tons, nearly five times more than in 2023 (587 tons). Foreign mandarins were first imported into Korea in 2017. At that time, imports were only 0.1 tons, but they have been gradually increasing to 8.4 tons in 2018, 512 tons in 2020, and 529 tons in 2022. The sudden surge in mandarin imports last year, which had been only about 500 tons per year since 2020, is analyzed to be due to the lower tariffs caused by the Korea-US FTA and the government's application of quota tariffs in the ...

Source: Nongmin