Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the MSS) visited Yulchon Co., Ltd., an auto parts manufacturing company located in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on the 5th to inspect the impact of the US’ implementation of a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico on exporting SMEs and listened to the company’s difficulties and suggestions.
The Trump administration's 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico was scheduled to take effect on February 4, but was postponed for a month. It is expected that small and medium-sized businesses that have entered Canada and Mexico together with large corporations and small and medium-sized businesses that export to the U.S. through Canada and Mexico will feel a great burden due to the implementation of this tariff.
Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been organizing and operating a TF to respond to the second term of Trump since November of last year, and on February 18, it announced the ‘SME and Venture Company Export Support Plan’ and is promoting a plan to support SMEs in response to the tariff measures of the U.S. Trump administration.
First, in order to alleviate management difficulties for companies affected by tariff measures, we have established complaint reporting centers in 15 export support centers to receive reports and provide consultations on damages caused by US tariff measures. We also plan to support the rapid normalization of management for companies experiencing management difficulties through emergency management stabilization funds, etc.
Next, in order to quickly support companies that are pursuing export country diversification in response to US tariff measures, the 'Policy Fund Fast Track' was introduced to support small and medium-sized enterprises pursuing export country diversification. In the future, when operating export consortiums and export vouchers, we plan to support the discovery of new buyers by giving priority to small and medium-sized enterprises affected by US tariff measures.
In addition, in order to ease the management burden of small and medium-sized enterprises that have established overseas corporations, 60 billion won in policy funds will be supplied to overseas corporations of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises for the first time starting this year. In addition, a program will be operated to support small and medium-sized enterprises that establish overseas corporations with large corporations or pursue relocation to other countries with subsidies of up to 1 billion won for up to three years.
During this on-site visit, Yulchon Chairman Lee Heung-hae said that they are currently in discussions with local buyers in the U.S. to find ways to respond to the Trump administration’s tariff measures, and that this is a time when support at the government level is needed along with individual company-level response measures.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “We will promptly review the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises due to the U.S. tariff measures, and actively pursue policies such as the rapid normalization of management of companies affected by the tariffs and diversification of export countries.”
In addition, he said, “We plan to actively request cooperation from large companies to minimize damage to small and medium-sized enterprises that supply to large domestic companies that have advanced overseas.”
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