Statistics

South Korea car imports up 1,000% since 1992, but down last two years

April 10th, 2007

South Korean auto imports into the United States have risen more than 1,000 percent in the last 15 years, but have fallen the last two years, according to WorldCity analysis of U.S. Census data.

Auto imports are one of the flashpoints in the recently announced South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, with U.S. rice and beef exports two others. All are drawing the ire of some members of Congress, within those specific industries and from free-trade opponents.

The drop might be precipitated by Hyundai, which has been building Sonatas in Alabama since 2005 and is adding the Sante Fe model this year. Kia will start building cars in Georgia in 2009.

The trend is clear, with Germany’s BMW and Mercedes and Japan’s Toyota and Mazda also now manufacturing in the United States. The United States manufacturers around the world as well, including in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

If the proposed free-trade agreement is passed by both nations’ legislative bodies, it would be South Korea’s largest-ever free trade agreement and the largest for the United States since the passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement in 1992.

Duties on South Korean cars would wither away.

But passage is not assured in the U.S. Congress, with more trade-leery Democrats controlling both houses for the first time in more than a decade. In fact, President Bush is likely to lose his fast-track negotiating authority for the remainder of his presidency, critical for negotiating free trade agreements, meaning this would likely be his last FTA of his administration, should it pass.

The proposed treaty, according to Bloomberg reports, does not provide guaranteed market access for U.S. manufactured cars but would end duties and certain taxes as well as put a mechanism in place for dispute resolution.

South Korea is essentially the third-leading foreign importer of cars into the United States. Technically, it ranks No. 5, behind Japan, Canada, Germany and Mexico, but U.S. automakers manufacture cars in Canada and Mexico.

While South Korean imports have slipped from $10 billion to $8.7 billion, overall car imports during the same three-year period rose from $123 billion to $138 billion. Imports from Canada were essentially flat during that period while Mexico’s accounted for $4 billion of the $15 billion overall increase.

The largest importer of cars into the United States is Japan, and its imports have risen from $33 billion to $35 billion to $44 billion in the same three-year period. In 1992, that total was $22 billion, a 107 percent increase in 15 years.

Although South Korea’s 1,066 percent increase since 1992 is big, the United Kingdom registered a 1,121 percent increase, the largest among the eight nations with at least $1 billion in imports, while Italy registered a 750 percent increase. Three nations that did not import any cars into the United States in 1992 now bring in more than $500,000, Austria, Slovakia and Finland.

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