Investment in US
It has been found that South Korea’s investment in the United States hit a five-year high last year whereas the investment from the United States to South Korea fell approximately 30% during the same period.
The New York Office of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced on February 8 that South Korea’s investment in the United States for the first, second and third quarters of last year totaled US$6.94 billion to reach the highest level since 2011 even without the figure for the fourth quarter that has yet to be calculated.
South Korea’s investment in the United States had reached US$5.59 billion in 2014 and then rose to US$5.66 billion in 2015 and at least US$6.94 billion in 2016. The number of reported investments has continued to rise for the past four years, too.
On the contrary, investment in South Korea by the United States dropped by about 30% between 2015 and last year from US$5.48 billion to US$3.88 billion.
In his election campaigns, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that his country suffered losses in trade with South Korea and the KORUS FTA added to the losses. This implies that South Korean companies’ investment and employment in the United States may increase down the road to have a positive effect on the economic indices of the U.S. in the long term.