The Korea International Trade Association building located at the Trade Tower in Seoul / Courtesy of KITA

By Kim Hyun-bin

Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the ROK-U.S. alliance and is a critical turning point to expand bilateral exchanges between Korea and the U.S. to strengthen the economic and security alliance, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Friday.

KITA held the "2023 U.S. Economy Policy Outlook and Market Entry Seminar" jointly with the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) at COEX in Seoul, Friday.

The seminar touched upon future prospects for the U.S.' trade and economy next year, major policy issues and the midterm election results, factors to consider when investing in the U.S. and successful cases of Korean companies entering the U.S.

"Korea-U.S. trade continues to grow at a double-digit rate this year as it did last year," a KITA official said. "Major Korean companies announced large-scale investments and follow-up investments are expected to expand significantly in the future."

James Kim, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM), emphasized that Korea and the U.S. are the closest trading partners, and that changes in one country have a great impact on other countries.

"AMCHAM supports the strong Korea-U.S. partnership and will continue to help many companies from both countries participate in this partnership," Kim said.

In a presentation on "Major Issues and Prospects of the U.S. Economy," Joo Won, head of economic research at Hyundai Research Institute, predicted "the U.S. economy will be somewhat sluggish in 2023 due to high-interest rates. As the U.S. global value chain (GVC) reorganization strategy is entering an era in which production in the U.S. is advantageous, Korean companies need to increase their understanding of the Biden administration's economic policies."

Some experts pointed out that due to the influence of the U.S.' industrial and trade policies, Korean companies will not be able to do business with some countries in order to maintain their business with the U.S., which will be a burden in the future.

However, they pointed out certain manufacturing industries could benefit from increased U.S. subsidies when appropriately utilized.