The administration of Donald Trump in the United States has reportedly demanded that the Korean government ease regulations on the import of beef over 30 months old, the export of high-precision maps, and the import of living modified organisms (LMO). These issues were mentioned in the '2025 National Trade Barriers Report' by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
As these are sensitive issues that could worsen public opinion, the new government, set to be inaugurated after the presidential election on the 3rd, is expected to face significant challenges.
According to government sources on the 1st, during the 2nd Korea-U.S. technical negotiations held from the 20th to the 22nd of last month (local time), the U.S. presented demands for improvements across six areas: balanced trade, non-tariff measures, economic security, digital trade, origin, and commercial considerations.
The U.S. pointed to the ban on importing U.S. beef over 30 months old as a typical example of 'excessive non-tariff measures.'
During past negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.S. Obama administration, the Korean government agreed to import only beef under 30 months old, taking into account public opinion after the 'mad cow disease scare.'
Since then, the market for U.S. beef imports has grown rapidly in Korea. In 2012, the first year the Korea-U.S. FTA took effect, the import value of U.S. beef was only $522 million. However, last year's figure increased by 330% to $2.243 billion. The proportion of beef in the total U.S. import value also nearly tripled from 1.2% to 3.1%.
Starting in 2026, tariffs on U.S. beef under 30 months old are set to be fully abolished. There is speculation that the share of U.S. beef in the domestic market will increase further.
The U.S. considers Korea's import restrictions to beef under 30 months as a 'transitional measure.' The latest NTE report pointed out that the age restriction has been in place for 16 years. The ban on importing jerky and sausages regardless of beef age is also cited as a non-tariff barrier.
In the field of digital trade, the issue of Google's request to export high-precision maps with a scale of 1:5000 was mentioned. Google officially requested map export twice, in 2011 and 2016, but the government refused, citing concerns of information leakage if map data containing security facilities like military bases were placed on overseas servers.
Currently, Google Maps is only provided up to a scale of 1:25,000 in Korea. Due to these limitations, real-time navigation or reservation functions cannot be used.
Ultra-precise spatial information at a 1:5000 scale is core data for advanced industries like virtual reality (VR) and autonomous driving. There are concerns that U.S. big tech corporations might dominate the domestic map information service market by utilizing this information.
The government initially planned to decide on the export of high-precision maps abroad by mid-last month, but has postponed the decision. The decision is expected to be made in August after the new government takes office.
The easing of import regulations for LMO agricultural products was also mentioned as one of the major demands. The government is currently going through import approval procedures for food and healthcare-related LMOs and is strengthening quarantine inspections to prevent the import and distribution of unapproved LMOs.
During the 2nd technical negotiations, it is reported that the Korean delegation, after consulting with related ministries, responded to the issues raised by the United States. An official of Deputy Director level from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs accompanied the negotiations. A representative from the Ministry commented that there is a principle not to disclose the details of what both sides discussed during the technical negotiations, making it difficult to specify the demands or responses.