- The Korea International Trade Association announced on May 19 that it submitted an official opinion letter addressing the U.S. investigation into national security threats under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
- KITA also emphasised that Korea has been supplying critical minerals to the United States, despite the recent instability in the critical mineral supply chain due to increased export controls and trade frictions.
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced on May 19 that it submitted an official opinion letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce on May 16, addressing the U.S. investigation into national security threats under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
On April 22, the United States launched an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to determine whether imports of processed critical minerals and derivative products pose a threat to national security. The stakeholder opinion gathering process was conducted until May 16.
In the opinion letter, KITA emphasised that “Korean processed critical minerals and derivative products do not threaten U.S. national security and should therefore be excluded from Section 232 measures.”
It further explained that Korea, as the chair country of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a multilateral consultative body on critical minerals led by the United States, is playing a crucial role in diversifying and stabilising the critical mineral supply chain for member countries, including the United States.
KITA also emphasised that Korea has been supplying critical minerals to the United States, despite the recent instability in the critical mineral supply chain due to increased export controls and trade frictions.
In fact, China responded to additional U.S. tariff measures in February by implementing export controls on major critical minerals such as tungsten, bismuth, and indium.
Korean products account for 41.1 per cent of U.S. bismuth imports and 15.9 per cent of indium imports. For tungsten, Korea plans to supply 45 per cent of its domestic production to the United States through long-term contracts starting this year.
KITA also requested a rational reduction in the scope of critical mineral derivative products, which are broadly designated to include electric vehicles, batteries, cathode materials, motors, semiconductor wafers, smartphones, and wind turbines.
Additionally, it added that some derivative products such as batteries, motors, semiconductor wafers, and smartphones are already subject to other Section 232 measures, and therefore should not be subject to double tariffs on the same items.
Cho Sung-dae, head of KITA’s Trade Law Response Team, said, “Among the items identified as critical mineral derivative products, electric vehicles, motors, batteries, anode materials, permanent magnets, and radar systems have a high export share to the United States, so tariff measures could be a significant burden.”
He added, “Especially if tariffs are imposed based on the content of critical minerals in products, as with steel and aluminium derivative products, the administrative burden on companies could greatly increase. KITA will continue to make efforts to minimise such damage.”