The United States has been Korea's largest trading partner, and while the two countries have enjoyed substantial benefits from the mutual trade relationship, there has also been some substantial trade friction. Currently, the United States is experiencing record high trade deficits, but unlike the past, such trade deficit has not become a political problem. In fact, most Americans seem to be unconcerned about the trade deficit. The trade deficit has not been emphasized in the 2000 Presidential elections. Such lack of concern is probably due to the extended period of economic growth in the United States, where the unemployment rate is at a historical low, and productivity is increasing steadily.

Due to the lack of general concern about the trade deficit, most of the bilateral trade problems between Korea and the United States have tended to concentrate on certain politically sensitive, or economically strategic industries. In this report, six industries in particular are examined: Distribution of beef, steel, automobiles, semi-conductors, intellectual property rights, and government procurement. At first glance, there is little similarity between the six industries. Problems in the distribution of beef and the automobile industries deal with market barriers in the Korean market; problems in the steel industries deal with American perception of unfair Korean exporting practices and American market barriers; problems in semi-conductors deal with offshore implementation of American anti-dumping laws; and intellectual property rights and government procurement are "new issues" in trade, areas which are only now coming into importance in the trade arena. The report looks at the individual issues in detail. For beef distribution, Korea has maintained separate distribution channels which does not seem justifiable according to the WTO. For steel, the American firms seems to have used the Asian financial crisis as an excuse to lobby for protection and government assistance which it had always wanted. In semi-conductors, the "Big Deal" merger, as well as reduction in production by Korean firms to prop up international prices seems to have gotten the attention of the American anti-trust authorities as being a possible anti-competitive act. In automobiles, the American manufacturers have steadily asked for, and received reductions of market barriers in the Korean market, but the import share of the automobile market have remained below 1%. However, such low market share may be due to the lack of effort by American firms to market their products properly, as well as the ban on the imports of Japanse automobiles which has only recently been lifted.

The American government and businesses have also asked for stricter intellectual property rights and protection of such intellectual property rights. While the Koreans have strengthened the intellectual property laws, and have improved enforcement of these laws, Americans are still not satisfied with various specific areas of these laws, as well as what they perceive are still "too-weak" levels of enforcement.

Finally, in government procurement, the Americans have recently accused the Inchon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) of discriminating against foreign firms, arguing that IIAC was effectively a part of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation(MOST), thus bound by the non-discrimination obligation of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. The WTO dispute settlement panel found that, because IIAC is not a legal sub-entity of MOST, it is not subject to the provisions of WTO GPA.

As seen, the problems in each industry seems distinct and separate. However, there are some common threads linking these disparate problems. Lurking in the background of all these issues is the American perception of collusion between the Korean government and businesses. In some industries, the two agents collude to keep Americans out of the Korean market, in some industries, the two agents collude to give unfair advantages to Korean exports in the US markets. In intellectual property rights, the Korean government sometimes bend the rules to give unfair advantages to Korean businesses. These perceptions are sometimes worsened by the opaque relationships between the Korean government and businesses. Thus, in order to reduce bilateral trade friction between Korea and the United States, one of the primary tasks of the government must be to counter the American perception that the Korean government and businesses are engaged in collusive acts against American firms, and make as transparent as possible, the relationships between the Korean government and businesses.

서 언
국문요약

제 I 장 서 론

제Ⅱ장 미국의 통상정책과 韓-美 통상환경
1. 미국의 통상정책기조
2. 한-통상의 환경

제Ⅲ장 쇠고기 관련 韓-美간 통상마찰
1. 개 요
2. 국내 쇠고기 시장 현황
3. 국내 쇠고기 산업과 한-미 쇠고기교역
4. 한국의 쇠고기시장 개방과 이행
5. 국내 쇠고기 수입과 판매 체제
6. 한-미간 쇠고기 통상마찰 : WTO 분쟁
7. 시사점 및 대응방안

제Ⅳ장 韓-美 자동차 통상마찰의 내용과 향후 과제
1. 개 요
2. 韓-美간 자동차 통상마찰의 배경
3. 미국의 요구내용
4. 그 동안의 경과 및 한국의 조치
5. 평가 및 대응전략

제V장 韓-美간 철강분쟁
1. 개 요
2. 미국의 철강산업 보호정책의 배경
3. 철강관련 산업 보호정책 수단
4. 한-미간 통상마찰 내용
5. 평가 및 향후과제

제Ⅳ장 韓-美간 반도체 관련 논쟁
1. 개 요
2. 한-미 반도체 산업 최근 동향
3. 한국 반도체 산업에 대한 美 반 독점 법 적용여부
4. 반도체 가격담합 여부
5. 반덤핑 조치
6. 평가 및 향후과제

제Ⅶ장 지적재산권 관련 韓-美 통상
1. 지재권의 중요성
2. 지재권 보호제도의 국제화
3. 미국의 지재권 산업 및 보호정책
4. 지재권 관련 한-미 통상마찰
5. 국내의 이행노력
6. 대응방안 및 향후과제

제Ⅷ장 韓-美간 정부조달 분쟁
1. 정부조달협정(GPA)과 한-미간 통상마찰 역사
2. 신공항건설공단 분쟁의 개요
3. 신공항건설공단 분쟁의 경위
4. 주요 논쟁 사항과 WTO 판정
5. 분쟁에 대한 평가와 의미

제Ⅸ장 결론

참고문헌