• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.71-101
• /
• 2017

Since late 2016, protectionism has been a major trend in world trade with the Great Britain exiting the European Union and the United States electing Donald Trump as the 45th president. Consequently, there has been a huge public outcry regarding the negative prospects of heavy industry firms in Korea, which are highly dependent upon international trade with Western countries including the United States. In light of such trend and concerns, we have tried to predict business performance of heavy industry firms in Korea with data regarding trade policy of the United States. United States International Trade Commission (USITC) levies countervailing duties and anti-dumping duties to firms that violate its fair-trade regulations. In this study, we have performed data analysis with past records of countervailing duties and anti-dumping duties. With results from clustering analysis, it could be concluded that trade policy trends of the Unites States significantly affects the business performance of heavy industry firms in Korea. Furthermore, we have attempted to quantify such effects by employing long short-term memory (LSTM), a popular neural networks model that is well-suited to deal with sequential data. Our major contribution is that we have succeeded in empirically validating the intuitive argument and also predicting the future trend with rigorous data mining techniques. With some improvements, our results are expected to be highly relevant to designing regulations regarding heavy industry in Korea.

• International Commerce and Information Review
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.155-187
• /
• 2017

In the US, the Sections 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 are still being used to resolve disputes. The U.S' such unilateral retaliations grounded on the Sections 301 of the Trade Act, in fact, violate the WTO agreements and hinder the development of international trade as the trade partner may assume it as a reprisal move impeding the fair settlement of disputes. Here, this study is going to examine the characteristics and functions of the WTO dispute settlement system briefly and compare the countermeasures recognized to be legitimate by the WTO with the U.S' unilateral retaliation. Also, this author will analyse the US-Japan Automobiles (DS6) and EC-Bananas III (DS27) as one of the typical cases resulted from the unilateral retaliation. According to the result, these cases do not conform to WTO-consistency, and it implies that it is absurd to accept the US' unilateral retaliation internationally. In conclusion, presently, it is a global trend to solidify protectionism, and to vitalize trade and resolve trade disputes efficiently, it is needed to prohibit the recourse to unilateral retaliations and also positively apply the WTO dispute settlement system(DSU) defining rules about how to strengthen the multilateral system.

• Korea Trade Review
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.113-138
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this research is to analyze how the Chinese cosmetics certification system works as a Non-Tariff Barriers(NTBs) for Korean exporting companies to access the Chinese market. China is the largest market for Korea's cosmetic exports, but China's policy of protecting domestic industry has become a barrier to Korea's cosmetics exports to China. Therefore, this research, through the analysis of regulations of the Chinese certification system for imported cosmetics. revealed that there are such problems as ① information leakage ② duplication of inspection ③time delay. In order to verify those problems, surveys and face-to-face interviews with Korean cosmetic exporting companies to China have been conducted. In conclusion, Chinese cosmetics certification system not only protects its own industry, but also serves as a NTBs to disturb the access of imported cosmetics to the Chinese market in order to foster Chinese cosmetic industry.

• Korea Trade Review
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 2016

This study reviews international discussions about the trade-labor linkage and examines the labor chapters of FTAs enforced by the US and the EU from a comparative perspective. Since early 1990s, starting from the NAFTA, the US has included forceable labor provisions in its FTAs and this trend continues to the TPP which was concluded in October 2015. On the other hand, the EU's labor provisions in its FTAs have been composed of promotional elements on labor rights based on cooperations and dialogues. These different features of labor provisions in the US and European FTAs are mainly due to the motives of the FTAs of the US and the EU respectively as well as their domestic situations with regards to domestic law and institutional set-ups. The coordination of labor provisions involves a long-term institutional as well as regulatory convergence which triggers not only economic but also social changes, compared to a relatively short-term effect of tariff elimination. For Korea which has been a FTA partner country both with the US and the EU, it is significant to keep the different characteristics in the labor provisions in mind, particularly in the process of its implementation. Concerning the implementation of Korea-US FTA, it might be problematic if Korean law and its regulatory practice on labor-management relations do not comply with that of the US. The Korea-EU FTA case can also have an indirect impact on Korea's labor laws since it stipulates in its provisions that both parties should have discussions not only within each government but also with the civil communities including NGOs. Thus, Korea should pay more attention to the true meaning in labor provisions of both FTAs in order to promote its firms to be equipped with the right labor-management system in their operations abroad.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.127-150
• /
• 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the third pandemic in history after the Hong Kong flu and swine flu. The outbreak of Corona 19 dramatically reduced exchanges between countries, while rapid contagion created a time gap in economic fluctuations by country. In January 2020, the trade dispute between the US and China entered into a consensus phase, but the economic decoupling phenomenon caused by Corona 19 made it difficult for China to balance trade with the US and made it difficult to comply with the terms of the trade dispute agreement between the US and China. President Trump attributed the responsibility for the spread of Corona 19 to China, and pointed out that the cause of the economic downturn was the infringement of Chinese trade secrets and illegal copies, and protectionism arose. As a result, China protested fiercely, and the conflict with the United States deepened. The US has declared trade sanctions on Huawei and SMIC, which are key companies in China's semiconductor industry, and is predicting the risk of a disconnection of the semiconductor value chain between the US and China. The separation of the value chain of the semiconductor industry has the potential to have a big impact on the semiconductor industry, a structure that is highly specialized and monopolized by certain countries and companies in the value chain. This paper aims to deal with the risk of disconnection in the semiconductor value chain between the US and China reignited by Corona 19, the impact and change of the global semiconductor industry value chain, and the response strategies of Korean semiconductor companies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.37-41
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent resurgence of popularism and the possible impacts it may have on contemporary business and economics. Research design, data and methodology: This is an exploratory case study that examines the rise of popularism and identifies and analyzes the likely implications for contemporary business and economics. Results: Although populists tend to reject elitism, capitalism, economic globalization, and political establishment, their ethnocentric behavior is no different from those of the corrupt political and economic elites. Popularism does enable nationalism and protectionism and negatively impacts business and economic growth. Conclusions: Popularism existed for a long time, and this phenomenon will continue to exist as long as a triggered mechanism exist, e.g., income inequality, resurgence of immigration, recession, insufficient factors of resources and social welfare. The recent rise of popularism is not a fad or a short-lived anti-establishment and anti-elitism movements but, rather, a force to be reckoned with in the near future. The rise of economic nationalism limits international trade, integration, and cooperation. As a result, international capital, service, and product flows will decline, and countries and multinational corporations have to develop and restructure their international supply and value chain to cope with this phenomenon.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.95-119
• /
• 2020

Securing a stable supply chain is becoming a significant concern among countries as the global uncertainty rises with the expansion of global protectionism and the result of what the COVID-19 pandemic has brought around the world. This study has investigated dispute cases between customs authority and trade corporations based on the KOREA-ASEAN FTA and suggested the following implications and improvements: Firstly, the extent (varieties) of the proof document on cumulation and its form should be stipulated and provided through consultation between customs from each contracting party. Secondly, it ought to be prescribed as an obligation so that producers located in the third country can cooperate in providing documents for certification of origin. The duty to provide such documentary evidence should also be specified when making EX-IM contracts. Lastly, origin verification provisions regarding cases to which cumulation is applied have to be complemented so that the verification period's extension can be applied and approved. One can expect that the abovementioned responses on cumulation will enhance the availability of KOREA-ASEAN FTA.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.23-40
• /
• 2022

Under the global economic system, production activities has formed an international division of labor, which has greatly affected industries in individual countries by global issues such as the U.S-China trade war and neo-protectionism. In particular the risk and change of disconnection of semiconductor value chain caused by COVID-19 are evaluated as offering the crisis and opportunity at the same time to all countries participating in the global electronics industry value chain. Therefore, this study was conducted with the OECD Trade in Value Added(TiVA) based on the time when a detailed analysis of the global chain of the electronic industry is needed. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the global value chain of the electronics industry is gradually expanding and strengthening, and that various countries are emerging as major actors in the global value chain. It was found that the U.S. and Japan are in charge of relatively high value-added activities, while Korea, Taiwan and China are in charge of low value-added activities, although they are large scale.

• International Commerce and Information Review
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.95-116
• /
• 2009

Korea-Us FTA negotiation started in February 2006 with a view to overcoming those uncertainties in the global market and was finally concluded in April, 2007. The Agreement was officially signed between ministers two month later and it is expected to be ratified this year even though the process is most likely to be painful in both countries by the political resistances. For the new President of the United States, effective leadership will depends largely on how to encourage domestic industries such as Automobile industry and Iron and Steel industry from the financial crisis. Many trading partners of US worry about US foreign trade policy changes to protectionism that might be unequal to bear. Korea textile industry is one of the major industry in Korea as it occupies 15% of total number of manufacturers, 11% of total employment and 5% of national GDP. Korea-US FTA will provide a breakthrough for bouncing back by exploring new market. US agreed to remove all tariff and non-tariff barriers to 87% of textile items under trading. This study shows that Korean textile industry has been losing it's competitiveness as textile quota system abolished in the year 2005 and has been traced by pursuers such as China, India and Vietnam. In case of woven fabric which was a representing export item of Korea lost price competitiveness against China after 2005. This study seeks the strategy of Korea textile industry in the US market by utilizing the capacity of KOTRA offices in US. All possible statistical data obtained in the US were used for analysing the competitiveness. Fabrics and Garments are analysed independently with a view to finding out real trends of textile market in US. This study also suggest Korea's textile industry strategic ideas obtained from the potential buyers to show the way to penetrate into US market.

• Korean Business Review
• /
• v.11
• /
• pp.365-384
• /
• 1998

Under the rapid change of the world shipping industry, the liner shipping company in Korea should initiate the adaptation power, counterplot for survival, and continuous development. The world shipping industry is in the middle of the wave for the liberalization and openness of it. According to this change in world shipping industry, it is the fact that government policy for shipping industry should start turning its direction from the protectionism to the liberalism. Under this kinds of situations, this study firstly treated the liner shipping company and its governmental policy of Korea and Japan. Based on those studies, analysis of the liner shipping company operation and management reality was executed. Through the execution of studies, the problems which should be solved for development occurred. Furthermore, this thesis takes two way of researches of literature and actual proof for reinforcement plan of international competitiveness. This standard time period of study is set in 1993 except the irregular liner shipping company.