Kang Kyung-sung, President of KOTRA, announced on the 18th that the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has secured an additional 84.7 billion won for the tariff response voucher budget, allowing the organization to further support about 2,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
The tariff response voucher system, implemented by the Korean government in response to the tariff policies of the Trump administration, allows Korean companies facing export difficulties to have part of their costs for damage analysis, strategy development, and alternative market exploration covered through prepaid vouchers.
In line with this, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA expanded the related budget through the government’s supplementary budget confirmed on the 1st of last month.
Previously, the Ministry and KOTRA utilized an initial budget of 9.3 billion won to select 204 companies for the first round of the tariff response voucher support. Among these, companies in the automotive parts and machinery sectors accounted for 71, or 34.8%.
It was found that these companies deeply felt the need for specialized tariff response consulting at overseas locations.
Companies wishing to participate in the additional tariff response voucher program can apply through the “Tariff Response Package Service” page on the export voucher portal.
Kang Kyung-sung, President of KOTRA, stated, “Due to constantly changing tariff policies, our companies are experiencing increased export difficulties,” and added, “We will promptly execute the expanded tariff response voucher budget to ensure our companies can promptly overcome export challenges caused by tariffs.”