Top News

South Korea’s exports grew for most of August, despite the heavy tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which has upended global trade.

According to a Bloomberg News report, citing customs data, the value of shipments gained 7.6% in the first 20 days of this month, compared with a 5.8% rise for the whole month of July. Despite imports rising slightly by 0.4%, the Asian country posted a trade surplus of $833 million.

By sector, semiconductor exports, Korea’s top product, rose about 30%, while auto exports gained 22%, the report added. Unadjusted exports to the U.S. slipped 2.7% while exports to China rose 2.7%.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) was in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.

South Korea is heavily reliant on trade, with exports making up 40% of the country’s economy. Last month, the country struck a last-minute deal with the U.S. to get a 15% tariff rate, compared to the 25% proposed by the Trump administration initially.

However, the reduced rates will take a while to come into effect. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday that written documentation on the trade deals with Japan and South Korea is “weeks away.”

The country’s exports have held their ground this year due to frontloading of shipments. South Korean firms such as Samsung Electronics have also benefited from the exemption granted to smartphones and other consumer electronics goods by the Trump administration.

However, other sectoral tariffs, such as autos and steel, continued to weigh in on exports. During the first 20 days of August, steel exports slipped 4.5% while petroleum product shipments were down by 4%.

The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF has risen 39% this year, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust is up 8.3% this year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<