The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that on the 12th, it visited GJ Aluminum Co., Ltd. located in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, and held an on-site meeting to listen to the difficulties faced by exporting SMEs due to the U.S. government’s implementation of a 25% tariff on imports of steel, aluminum, and derivatives and to discuss response measures.
Regarding the tariff measures targeting steel and aluminum, on February 10 (local time in the US), President Trump signed a proclamation on tariffs targeting steel and aluminum imported into the US, and on February 18 (local time in the US), the US government announced a list of steel and aluminum derivatives subject to tariffs.
At this on-site meeting, CEO Yoo Kyung-yeon of GJ Aluminum said, “Starting this year, in order to diversify our exports, we are in the process of signing an annual export contract worth 5 million dollars with a local U.S. company for aluminum parts used in air conditioners, heat exchangers, and transformers. However, we are experiencing difficulties in export negotiations due to the Trump administration’s tariff imposition.”
In addition, Han-Seong Jeong, CEO of Shinjin Fastener Industry Co., Ltd., said, “It is difficult for the domestic fastener industry to secure an alternative raw material supply chain other than large domestic companies,” and added, “Government-level monitoring and other support policies are needed to prevent domestic steel and aluminum raw material prices from skyrocketing.”
Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to fully operate an emergency response team to establish a rapid support system for companies affected by tariffs. First, 15 complaint reporting centers across the country will receive damage reports and provide consultations on difficulties for exporting SMEs. They plan to provide a list of steel, aluminum, and derivative products subject to tariffs imposed by the U.S. government, and provide related information and consultations.
In addition, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Federation of SMEs will jointly conduct a survey this month targeting SMEs in the steel and aluminum industries exporting to the U.S. regarding export difficulties and policy needs, and based on the results, they plan to further review customized information provision, expanded education on proof of origin, and legal service support.
Secondly, in order to quickly support small and medium-sized enterprises that are experiencing management difficulties due to tariff measures, we plan to add ‘protectionist trade damage’ as a reason for management difficulties in the emergency management stabilization fund and provide management normalization funds, and also simplify the application documents for emergency management stabilization guarantee for affected companies.
Third, we will provide preferential support for export diversification for companies affected by tariff measures. When the second announcement for export vouchers (scheduled for May) is made, we will allocate separate support volumes for companies affected by tariff measures to support consulting on establishing export strategies, and for small and medium-sized enterprises that are promoting export country diversification to respond to tariff measures, we plan to simplify the evaluation process through exemption from policy fund policy priority evaluation and fast-track evaluation.
Minister Oh Young-joo stated, “As the tariff policy of the second Trump administration becomes a reality, the uncertainty of the external environment felt by exporting SMEs is higher than ever,” and emphasized, “We will actively help exporting SMEs that are concerned about tariff damage or have suffered tariff damage to normalize their management and diversify their export countries through rapid support together with the Korea Federation of SMEs and product-specific associations and organizations.”
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