South Korea aims to abolish tariffs on US beef by 2026; fresh grapes from Chile are imported without duty

The government has taken a strategy of delaying complete market opening as much as possible by securing a long-term tariff abolition period of more than 10 years for major imported agricultural and livestock products while signing a free trade agreement (FTA). However, 17 years have passed since the Korea-Chile FTA, Korea's first FTA, went into effect. Import duties on agricultural products under the Korea-Chile FTA have already disappeared, except for items excluded from concessions (opening). Concession tariffs on major items under the Korea-EU, Korea-US, Korea-Australia, and Korea-China FTAs are also expected to disappear within a few years. According to the ‘Trends of Import and Export of Agricultural and Livestock Products’ by the Korea Rural Economic Research Institute, major countries that export livestock products to Korea will be able to export livestock products to Korea without customs duties within 7 years. Tariffs on beef from the United States will be eliminated ...