The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) submitted its 2025 National Trade Estimate Report (NTE) to President Donald Trump and Congress on March 31, detailing trade barriers faced by American exporters and the agency’s efforts to address them.
The annual report, due each year by March 31, comes at a pivotal time as Trump, who has pledged to impose reciprocal tariffs, enters the early months of his second term.
The section on South Korea spans about seven pages, identifying trade barriers including restrictions on U.S. beef imports for cattle over 30 months old, chemical registration and evaluation rules, network usage fees, and cloud service security certification (CSAP) requirements for the public sector. The findings largely mirror those of 2024, reflecting longstanding concerns from U.S. technology firms.
On South Korea’s auto market, the report underscores continued market access concerns, stating: “Increased access to Korea’s automotive market for U.S. automakers remains a key priority for the United States.” It also flags South Korea’s emissions-related component (ERC) regulations, which U.S. companies have criticized for their lack of clarity and the risk of criminal prosecution by Korea Customs for non-compliance.
Regarding pharmaceuticals and medical devices, the report states: “The U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device industries continue to report concerns regarding a lack of transparency in Korea’s pricing and reimbursement policies and a lack of substantive opportunities for stakeholder input into proposed policy changes.” It also highlights issues with South Korea’s Innovative Pharmaceutical Company (IPC) accreditation, arguing that U.S. firms denied IPC status receive no clear explanation, despite the designation granting tax benefits and research incentives.
Another key issue raised is network usage fees imposed on foreign content providers such as Netflix by South Korean internet service providers (ISPs). The USTR, which has flagged this issue for four consecutive years, warns that the fees could benefit local competitors and strengthen Korea’s ISP oligopoly. “Because some Korean ISPs are also themselves content providers, fees paid by U.S. content providers could benefit a Korean competitor. Furthermore, such a mandate could be anticompetitive by further strengthening Korea’s ISP oligopoly of three major providers to the detriment of the content industry,” the report states.
The report also takes aim at South Korea’s cloud service security certification (CSAP), which mandates stringent local security standards for public sector cloud providers. “The potential market from which U.S. providers are being excluded is large and growing,” it says. Companies such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google have struggled to meet CSAP requirements, which include source code disclosure and the physical separation of public and private cloud infrastructure. While the U.S. had been pressing South Korea to align with international standards, a resolution was reached in September 2024 after Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) partially adopted U.S. concerns.
The USTR also criticizes South Korea’s proposed online platform regulations, stating: “These proposals would apply to a number of large U.S. companies operating in the Korean market. The proposals also appear to apply to two large Korean companies but exclude a number of other major Korean companies as well as companies from other countries.”
USTR Chief Jamieson Greer previously condemned these regulations in a 2024 interview with The Chosun Ilbo, calling them “harsh discrimination against U.S. platform companies” and warning that “while the U.S. remains committed to its relationship with Korea, it will take action.”
Other concerns listed in the report include restrictions on location-based data transfers, penalties imposed by Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission based on global revenue, foreign ownership limits in terrestrial broadcasting, and investment restrictions in the meat wholesale industry.
The report is expected to play a key role in shaping Trump’s trade agenda. Shortly after taking office, Trump directed the USTR to review tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed by major trade partners, signaling the potential for new tariffs or retaliatory measures based on the findings.
“No American President in modern history has recognized the wide-ranging and harmful foreign trade barriers American exporters face more than President Trump,” said Greer in a statement. “Under his leadership, this administration is working diligently to address these unfair and non-reciprocal practices, helping restore fairness and put hardworking American businesses and workers first in the global market.”
