Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

Park Jung-sung, Deputy Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister Kim Jung-kwan), met with Alexandra Dostal, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for the Strategy and Innovation Policy Sector at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), in Seoul on Monday, December 1. The two officials discussed key economic and trade issues between Korea and Canada.

Deputy Minister Park expressed strong regret over Canada’s announcement on Wednesday, November 26, to tighten its steel tariff rate quota (TRQ) regime. Under this measure, Canada will reduce the steel import quota allocated to its FTA partners, including Korea, from 100 percent to 75 percent of their 2024 import volumes and impose a 25 percent tariff on steel derivative products. He urged Canada to withdraw the measures swiftly.

Deputy Minister Park stressed that “these measures are highly likely to violate trade laws and run counter to the spirit of the Ottawa Group, which Canada leads as a champion of the rules-based multilateral trading system.” He further noted concerns that the measures could have serious implications for Korean companies’ ongoing or planned investments in Canada. He asked that Canada take particular care to avoid undermining opportunities for potential economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Deputy Minister Park also noted that Korea and Canada have substantial cooperation potential across a wide range of sectors—including defense, AI, automobiles, batteries, critical minerals, and energy—and that Korean businesses have been shortlisted for Canada’s submarine procurement project. He expressed hope that the two countries will continue to advance a reliable and mutually beneficial industrial supply chain, given their long-standing roles as leading defenders of the rules-based trading system.