Supply Chain Research

The third round of KORUS talks made little progress on updating the trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea. Discussions were held at the deputy ministerial level, likely due to the geopolitical sensitivities ahead of the U.S.-North Korea heads-of-state summit in May. A reduction of trade tensions cuts the risk future volumes for container-lines operating on South Korea-to-U.S. routes, which saw a 6% rise on a year earlier in February. That came despite a 48% drop in home appliances shipments due to recent U.S. “section 201” duties, as well as weaker exports of car parts. One year on...