Trade Agreement Home • Jobs • New Opportunities • Meet American Businesses • Key Facts
Small- and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, and the primary source of jobs for Americans. These businesses grow faster and hire more workers when they export. Now in effect, the U.S.-Korea trade agreement opens doors for U.S. businesses to export more, create more jobs, and grow their businesses. Below are businesses across the country that will benefit from increased exports because of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement.
Profile Products LLC
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
In spite of a challenging international economic environment, Profile Products LLC has opened new doors for its business and continues to thrive. Profile Products is a small-business leading in the world of organic and inorganic soil products. Its focus on international sales and expanding its export capabilities has enabled the company to survive and grow under difficult market conditions.
Although Profile Products has already begun to develop a South Korean market, the company sees substantial opportunity for growth. The previous tariffs on Profile’s products, which ranged from six to 14 percent, placed debilitating limits on the company’s sales prospects in South Korea. The U.S.-South Korea trade agreement gives Profile Products the ability to compete on a level playing field with South Korean companies, providing affordable merchandise for South Korean consumers and building an American company that employs nearly 200 people.
“International business is critical to the growth of our company in revenue and job creation. South Korea has been a country where we have developed good partnerships and are poised for substantial growth in sales. The added expense of importation fees puts us at a disadvantage and sales are being lost to other countries,” says Vice President of Marketing Joe Betulius. “My biggest concern is not just the loss of immediate sales, but it opens the door for other countries to develop relationships with our customers that will have long term negative consequences.”
Profile Products has been able to develop opportunities, save jobs, and open new markets through exports to South Korea and other countries. And the company’s international experiences have also helped Profile to develop more advanced and specialized products and to build cross-culture relationships, expanding its business at home and abroad and keeping American workers employed.
PakSense
Boise, Idaho
PakSense, a company that makes time and temperature monitor labels used in food and other industries, credits open trade with the business’s global boom.
PakSense’s business relies on export sales, as well as sales to companies that do international business, to ensure continually expanding markets and a growing customer base. South Korea is one of the company’s most promising opportunities, and the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement means retention of jobs and expansion of the firm’s business into sprawling international markets.
PakSense looks at the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement as having a domino effect; allowing more products to be exported from the U.S. to South Korea expanding sales opportunities for PakSense in the United States and abroad, and the growth of South Korean exports will boost international sales openings. In order to be a viable participant in the market, PakSense needs opportunities like those the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement supports.
“South Korea is an important market, and it’s a good market for us… but when we have unfair taxes it creates problems for us,” says Gerd Uitdewilligen, International Sales Manager for PakSense. “We are competing against other products that could be substituted from the European market, so it’s important we have a level playing field.”
Global trade benefits small companies like PakSense, allowing them to retain jobs within the firm and build stronger businesses. Broadening trade prospects with South Korea gives PakSense the chance to be a strong international competitor. But the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement has even greater far-reaching impacts around the country, giving companies of all sizes the opportunity to expand, to export, and to help grow the American economy.
K&N Engineering
Riverside, California
K&N Engineering, a family-owned business in Riverside, California, produces reusable air filters for cars and motorcycles. K&N, which opened its doors over forty years ago, employes over 400 workers and sells its products to consumers and businesses in over 80 countries around the world. K&N’s Made in America exports account for almost a quarter of their overall sales – helping this small business prosper during the economic recovery.
Always on the lookout for new business opportunities and company growth, K&N heavily relies on international trade for success.
The U.S.-South Korea trade agreement is exactly what this business needs to grow and hire new workers, says Kevin Floody, K&N Engineering’s International Business Manager. “The [trade agreement] with South Korea stimulates more exports, which in turn will generate more production and this equals more jobs.”
This agreement eliminates tariffs on over 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods within five years of implementation, allowing businesses across America the opportunity to expand sales in South Korea and grow.
Analytical Graphics, Inc.
Exton, Pennsylvania
For over twenty years, Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) has been an international player in software development for professionals in the fields of aerospace, defense and intelligence. The company employs 260 men and women in the United States, and has international offices and partners in more than twenty countries.
AGI exports make-up 15 percent of the company’s sales, and the firm does business around the world from South America to Europe to Asia. South Korea especially presents tremendous potential for growth to the company.
AGI has worked closely with the Department of Commerce and other government agencies to develop a significant presence in international markets with a solid reputation for high-quality service. The U.S.–South Korea trade agreement provides AGI with additional opportunities in this rapidly growing market.
Although this company currently exports to Korea duty-free, the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement still offers AGI and all other technology companies’ intangible benefits.
AGI is a vocal supporter of the Intellectual Property Rights and Enforcement chapter of the trade agreement. Under this chapter, South Korea has promised to uphold vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights of U.S. companies. Increased enforcement of these rights is good for the protection of intellectual property for everyone. AGI also supports the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement for the positive light it shines on general exports of American technologies and the promotion of the general partnership of the two countries.
The expansion of AGI to more and more countries has led the company to hire more staff to support the higher volume of international sales. In fact, at AGI, jobs focused on global markets have grown from 6 percent of the company’s employees to 11 percent.
These factors contribute to AGI’s enthusiasm for the U.S.–South Korea trade agreement, which has the potential to create even more opportunities for the company to increase international sales and support new jobs.
The Dixie Group
Atlanta, Georgia
Since 1920, the Dixie Group has been manufacturing high quality carpets and rugs to residential and commercial customers. Founded in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Dixie Group manufactures its products here in the United States.
From its base in Tennessee and Alabama, the Dixie Group exports to more than 35 countries, including South Korea. In fact, ten percent of Dixie’s commercial sales are from foreign customers, and sales can increase with more market access and lower tariffs.
South Korea currently charges Dixie a ten percent tariff on its nylon and wool carpeting upon entrance onto South Korean ports – making Dixie’s products less competitive. That’s why the Dixie Group is excited for the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement because it eliminates all tariffs on its nylon and wool carpeting products immediately.
What does eliminating the 10 percent tariff mean for the Dixie Group? It means the company now competes on a more level playing field with its South Korean competitors regardless of where the high quality carpet product is manufactured. This gives the Dixie Group more incentive to invest additional time and money in promoting their product into South Korea’s lucrative market.
Robert Munisteri, Director of International Sales, believes that the trade agreement provides the company with extensive opportunities to grow in South Korea, one of Dixie’s most robust export markets.
“Growing our export business is a key part of the Dixie Group’s mid- to long-term strategic plans and a subject on which we are passionate about. We basically have the same goal as President Obama; to double our international/export business in the next two years,” Munisteri says.
As their U.S. domestic market continues to recover, international sales are helping the Dixie Group sustain business growth and support their employees in Tennessee and Alabama. The increased export opportunities that the U.S.– South Korea trade agreement porvide, help the Dixie Group expand their operations enough to hire more people to sustain its growth.
Quality Float Works
Schaumburg, Illinois
Quality Float Works is a small company that packs a big punch. Based in Schaumburg, Illinois, this family-owned business designs and manufactures valves and metal float balls that are used to level liquid controls for critical components in the operation of heavy equipment. Quality Float Works’ production capacity and design capabilities gave it the unique ability to meet the needs of companies across many different industries in the United States and abroad. Today, Quality Float Works exports to over 30 countries.
Quality Float Works has been exporting since 1958 and still has yet to break into the South Korean market. There is a demand for quality in the South Korea market, and Quality Float Works knows that its products can meet those demands in the shipbuilding, plumbing, and agricultural industries.
So what are they waiting for? Vice President Jason Speer explained some months ago, “We know that there’s a demand for high quality products from South Korea, but we’re waiting for the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement to pass before we can responsibly invest time and money to promote our product in that market.”
Trade barriers that affect pricing for American goods weaken the competitive advantage Quality Float Works is known for: the ability to custom design a complex integrated system of float balls and valves to each customer’s specifications. International clients often request competing vendors to present their offer in a complete design, manufacturing, and cost proposal that integrates the float balls and valves from the same company. Before the U.S.-Korea trade agreement, Quality Float Works valves were charged an 8 percent tariff - forcing Quality Float Works to present a more expensive project proposal to clients compared to their competitors.
Quality Float Works’ is often considered by South Korean clients because of its reputation for quality but their products are more expensive. However, the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement provides a more level playing field on which to compete. The tariff on valves is now signifigantly reduced. With a more level playing field, Quality Float Works has the opportunity to make sales from South Korea with higher profit margins, enabling it to be more competitive around the world.
Quality Float Works is a vocal supporter of increasing export opportunities for American small businesses.
“Exporting has led us to hire about 30 percent more employees, and we hope to grow that number. We view our employees as family, when we do well, we give back to them. The better and stronger our company performs, the better benefits and wages we can offer,” shares Jason Speer.
The Langdale Company
Valdosta, Georgia
The Langdale Company is just one example of how a small business is poised to win the future through trade. The company currently exports their industrial wood products from ten manufacturing facilities in Georgia to Asia, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, and Mexico. For over 35 years, Langdale has exported to different markets around the world, spreading Langdale’s reputation for exceptional service, competitive prices, and an extensive product line. And Langdale has plans to expand into even more global markets.
Even with such a large portfolio of international customers, the Langdale Company has its eye on the South Korean market’s tremendous business opportunities. Bryan Harvey, vice president of sales, sees the South Korean market as a large growth opportunity for his company, but before the trade agreement, barriers to trade limited Langdale’s growth in South Korea.
“The passage of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement eliminates duties, thereby making our products more affordable. This helps increase our export volumes to the South Korea market,” said Harvey.
Although the product that Langdale currently exports to South Korea doesnot receive immediate tariff elimination, this company's long-term growth plans still benefit from lower duties and increased competitiveness from the phase out of Korea’s tariffs on this product under the agreement.
South Korea is our seventh largest trading partner, but before the agreement was in effect, exporting to South Korea currently has a few price tags. American businesses were charged an average tariff of 5.9 percent, which used to reach as high as 12 percent, to export wood and lumber. Estimated duties paid on exports of U.S. wood and lumber to South Korea were over $17 million from 2007 to 2009. However, more than 93 percent of U.S. wood and lumber exports to South Korea by value now receive duty-free treatment in the first three years of implementation of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement.
The U.S.-South Korea trade agreement also allows Langdale the opportunity to export a wider portfolio of existing products to the South Korean market.
