KITA (Chairman: Jin Sik Yoon) hosted KITA Global Trade Forum on Tuesday, 31 March at COEX in Seoul. The key agenda of the Forum was "One year after Trump administration 2.0's Liberation Day Tariffs - its results and the direction of U.S. trade policies."
This forum was organised to evaluate and forecast the direction of U.S. trade policies ever since U.S. President Donald Trump declared "Liberation Day" by introducing reciprocal tariffs on 2 April 2025. Approximately 100 people, including trade experts and representatives from exporter companies attended the Forum.
KITA Executive Vice Chairman In Ho Lee mentioned in his welcome remarks, "Properly responding to complex and unprecedented risks requires discussions with experts from a wide range of sectors to devise creative solutions." He added, "We are committed to sharing relevant information in a timely manner and engage in close collaboration with government officials and experts to support Korean companies to properly respond to fast-changing environments."
The first session was moderated by Mr Seok Young Choi, the Head of International Trade Research Institute at Lee & Ko Law Firm, and experts shared in-depth discussions on the results of U.S. trade policies and the future direction of the country's trade policies. Mr Heung Jong Kim, an Advisor at D&A LLC, highlighted, "Trump-style tariff policies resulted in ignoring the foundation of existing global order and a comeback of power politics driven by tariffs through adding pressure against counterparts by engaging in individual negotiations" and added, "We need to speed up the process of responding to such structural change by diversifying our key markets, restructuring supply chains and securing strategic independence."