Trump's 'Super 301' Target: Will It Turn Toward Korea's Digital Regulations?

Network Usage Fees, Onple Act, and Map Exports
Cited as Non-Tariff Barriers in the Digital Sector
Concerns Mount Over Stronger U.S. Trade Pressure on Korea
Calls Grow to Slow the Pace of Regulatory Legislation

As U.S. President Donald Trump has pulled out the Section 301 card of the Trade Act, known as the "Super 301," in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's brake on reciprocal tariffs, concerns are growing that Washington will use South Korea's digital regulations as a pretext to ramp up trade pressure.

Section 301 of the Trade Act authorizes the U.S. administration to respond, including through the imposition of tariffs, to unfair, unreasonable, or discriminatory acts, policies, and practices of foreign governments that restrict or burden U.S. trade. Although it is nominally aimed at unfair trade practices, it is regarded as a tool for the administration to pressure other countries and justify tariff actions based on its own discretionary judgment. Because it allows wide-ranging investigations and sanctions against other countries, it is also called the "Super 301."

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), through its annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE), has consistently singled out South Korea's network usage fees, restrictions on the overseas transfer of high-precision maps, the Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP), and the Online Platform Fairness Act (Onple Act) as representative non-tariff barriers in the digital sector.

The United States views as "anti-competitive" a bill under discussion in the National Assembly that would require global content providers to shoulder part of the network usage fees. It also regards as a disadvantage to U.S. companies the requirement that government approval must be obtained to export South Korea's high-precision maps to overseas servers. Google, Apple, and others have submitted applications to the Korean government seeking to transfer 1:5,000 scale high-precision map data to overseas servers, but the government is delaying its decision in light of concerns about reverse discrimination against domestic companies and the potential impact on trade negotiations. The CSAP certification system, which is required to enter South Korea's public cloud market, is likewise one of the digital regulatory barriers pointed out by the United States.

The United States is also wary of the fact that the Korean government has restricted the overseas transfer of domestic users' personal data through the Personal Information Protection Act and other laws, and that it is increasing the size of administrative fines through legal amendments. Washington also believes that the Online Platform Fairness Act, which the government and ruling party are pushing, will function as a form of ex-ante regulation that works to the disadvantage of U.S. companies, and it regards the Korean government's pressure on Coupang, which suffered a massive personal data leak incident, as excessive regulation.

Some observers are concerned that the U.S. administration could also raise issues with the Disinformation Eradication Act (an amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection), which passed the plenary session of the National Assembly last December. This bill strengthens the responsibility of platform companies, including Google and Meta, for managing false and manipulated information. It stipulates that, if false or manipulated information is intentionally disseminated, punitive damages of up to five times the amount of actual damages can be claimed. The U.S. Department of State stated in an official position last month that it "expresses serious concern over the Korean government's decision to approve the amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act," adding that "this will negatively affect U.S.-based online platform businesses and undermine freedom of expression." James Heller, Charge d'Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Korea, also sent a letter last month to Baek Hoon-bae, Vice Minister of Science and ICT and Minister of Science and ICT, urging the Korean government to "fulfill its pledge not to discriminate against the operation of U.S. big tech (large information technology companies) businesses in Korea."

With trade uncertainty increasing as the United States invokes Section 301 of the Trade Act, experts advise that the pace of ongoing digital regulatory legislation needs to be adjusted. Choi Kyungjin, a professor at the College of Law at Gachon University, said, "The Trump administration is likely to seek to raise the level of trade pressure by citing South Korea's digital regulations as a reason to draw investment into the United States," adding, "It is necessary to both adjust the pace of new legislation related to platform regulation and make efforts to explain that our government's digital regulations are not targeted solely at U.S. companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.