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Troy Stangarone

Troy Stangarone (ts@keia.org) is the senior director of congressional affairs and trade at the Korea Economic Institute.

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Troy Stangarone

Korea needs a new long-term economic strategy

During the first Trump administration, Seoul began to contemplate an economic strategy that reduced its dependence on the United States and China. With the return of Donald Trump and the more aggressive use of tariffs by his administration, a new long-term strategy is needed. Trade remains critical for the Korean economy. In 2024, exports were the equivalent of 39.1 percent of Korea’s GDP. While down from a high of 54.1 percent in 2012, the Korean economy is unlikely to rebalance away from exports in the near future. With exports as a percentage of GDP unlikely to decline as low as the U.S. proportion of 10.9 percent of GDP, the reliability of Korea’s trading partners will remain critical. Increasingly, the United States and China do not appear to offer Korea such reliability. In the short-term, the Lee administration is correct to focus on the economic relationship with the United States. America is Korea’s second largest trading partner and according to U.N. trade statistics, 18.8 percent of all Korean exports go to the United States. While China remains Korea’s largest tradi

Jul 9, 2025By Troy Stangarone
Korea needs a new long-term economic strategy
Troy Stangarone

Navigating US-China rivalry

In his initial remarks as president, Lee Jae-myung did not make a reference to the new administration's policy towards China. Given the short campaign it is perhaps not surprising that some policies may not be fully defined, but developing a new China policy in the context of the U.S.-China geostrategic rivalry will be one of the key challenges for the new administration. The default position for much of the last two decades of China being Korea's economic engine and the United States its security partner is no longer viable. The U.S.-China relationship has transitioned from one of economic cooperation to strategic rivalry, which has spilled over into Korea's economic relationship with China and into North Korea policy as well. While U.S. President Donald Trump himself is largely focused on the trade deficit, during his first administration a bipartisan consensus developed on China. It centered around concerns about Beijing’s use of forced tech transfers, efforts to develop artificial intelligence to advance its military capabilities, the utilization of its burgeoning tech industry t

Jun 17, 2025By Troy Stangarone
Troy Stangarone

Navigating US-China rivalry

In his initial remarks as president, Lee Jae-myung did not make a reference to the new administration's policy toward China. Given the short campaign, it is perhaps not surprising that some policies may not be fully defined, but developing a new China policy in the context of U.S.-China geostrategic rivalry will be one of the key challenges for the new administration. The default policy for much of the last two decades, with China being Korea's economic engine and the United States its security partner, is no longer viable. The U.S.-China relationship has transitioned from economic cooperation to strategic rivalry, which has spilled over into Korea's economic relationship with China and into North Korea policy as well. While Trump himself is largely focused on the trade deficit, during his first administration, a bipartisan consensus developed on China. It centered on concerns about Beijing’s use of forced tech transfers, efforts to develop AI to advance its military capabilities, the utilization of its burgeoning tech industry to conduct espionage and the growing U.S. dependence on

Jun 16, 2025By Troy Stangarone
Navigating US-China rivalry
Troy Stangarone

How we got here

Shortly after Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, a Korean colleague expressed frustration at the unfairness of the law, which was initially seen as favoring U.S. firms over Korean and other foreign firms. They went on to note that the United States needed Korea and its allies to be robust economies so they would be good partners. In principle, I don’t disagree. The Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions limited electric vehicle (EV) subsidies to vehicles produced in the United States, and over time, to those with an increasing amount of U.S.-produced content. The Biden administration did work with allies to reduce these burdens, but at the time, Korea only produced EVs domestically, and the concern was that it would be placed at a competitive disadvantage. The idea that the United States needs economically robust allies is also straightforward. However, the comment seemed to miss a broader point that is relevant for today. If Korea and other U.S. allies want a stable, dependable ally that provides international leadership in crises, a vibrant market for their exports and a p

May 20, 2025By Troy Stangarone
How we got here
Troy Stangarone

Trump’s reciprocal tariffs could reshape global trade

Standing in the Rose Garden at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump announced new reciprocal tariffs that mark the end of decades-long U.S. trade policy dedicated to lowering tariff barriers around the world. In doing so, Trump is taking a significant gamble that higher tariffs will spur renewed manufacturing in the United States. But those tariffs also have significant implications for U.S. allies like Korea. In announcing the new tariffs, the Trump administration has put in place a 10 percent universal tariff along with separate tariffs for around 60 countries that are designed to address barriers to U.S. exports related to a country’s average tariff rate, value-added taxes and a range of non-tariff barriers. The new 25 percent reciprocal tariff rate on Korean exports will not apply to products such as steel and automobiles, which have separate tariffs in place. However, that is little comfort as Korean manufacturers will still face 25 percent tariffs on those items. While Korea’s tariff rate is 25 percent, a White House chart indicated that the Trump administration had de

Apr 3, 2025By Troy Stangarone
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs could reshape global trade
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