Kang Kyung-sung, president of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), noted that "since the Trump administration has just started, trade policies may not yet be visible" and that "trade involves counterparty relationships, and it is difficult to reveal cards in advance. In the future, discussions or negotiations between government trade authorities will gradually be materialized."
Kang said at a press conference marking his 100 days in office on the 27th that "KOTRA has moved its North America headquarters from New York to Washington to respond to changes in the trade environment, and is quickly confirming and analyzing numerous information that comes from the local area to pass on to our corporations."
Kang stated, "We are also pushing for the operation of a help desk for tariff responses and the establishment of vouchers," and added, "There are always opportunities in difficult times. We are planning to present cooperation measures soon in five promising sectors: electric power equipment, shipbuilding, energy infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), and consumers."
He identified the global south regions, such as ASEAN and India, as promising markets amid a rapidly changing trade environment. KOTRA plans to open new trade offices in Mexico and Georgia within this year to expand business in those regions and increase local support.
Kang emphasized that "the global south is a very important region in terms of diversifying the export structure concentrated in China and North America," adding that "India, Indonesia, and Pakistan have high economic growth rates, and based on their large populations, they offer significant consumer markets beneficial for exports and are also effective as production base regions due to their essential resources."
Regarding China, he said, "As it remains the top export country, we must pursue practical benefits even under the U.S.-China hegemonic rivalry, and it is necessary to respond wisely by considering both sides," while also noting, "China has become closer to a competitor than a market. Intermediate goods containing high-quality consumer products or advanced technologies are promising."
He outlined his aspirations for his term, which include ▲expanding organization and budget ▲promoting diversification of export markets and items ▲achieving 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in exports. He plans to increase the number of trade offices from 129 to 140, the annual budget from 664.9 billion won to 750 billion won, and personnel from 1,838 to 1,900 by 2027.
The plan is to expand small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for most export corporations, to 100,000. Last year, the combined number of export corporations, including large, medium, and small enterprises, surpassed 100,000 for the first time. Of these, there were 95,949 SMEs, 2,430 middle-sized enterprises, and 1,110 large enterprises.
Kang stated that "in countries like Germany and Japan, which are export-oriented manufacturing nations like ours, SMEs support the economic structure across the industry," and he added, "The more strong SMEs we have, the more resilient our exports will be against external shocks, so we will fortify our foundations from the ground up."