The United States concluded a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea on April 1, which US Congress now has 90 days to consider before the trade promotion authority expires on June 30.

When implemented, the agreement should expand trade and investment between the two countries across many economic sectors including agriculture, industrial and consumer products, automobiles and textiles.

Under the agreement, US farm exports to Korea worth more than $1 billion would become duty free immediately and most remaining agricultural tariffs would be phased out over the first ten years.

According to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) more than 90% of bilateral trade in industrial and consumer goods will become duty free in three years with remaining tariffs eliminated within ten years.

South Korea is the world's tenth largest economy and the US's seventh largest trading partner, whilst the USA is Korea's third largest market. Bilateral trade between the two countries totalled an estimated value of $72 billion in 2006.