Korea-Ecuador SECA expands Latin America trade
The Chosun Daily - 02 September 2025
Korea-Ecuador SECA expands Latin America trade
By Choi Eun-kyung
The South Korean government has officially signed a Strategic Economic Cooperation Agreement (SECA) with Ecuador. This marks the first free trade agreement under President Lee Jae-myung’s administration, with tariffs on automobiles set to be abolished within 15 years. Hybrid Cars will receive duty-free benefits within five years. Additionally, economic cooperation in energy and supply chain sectors will be expanded. SECA is a type of trade agreement that supplements a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which focuses on market opening in goods and services, by incorporating broader economic cooperation elements such as environment, labor, supply chains, and healthcare.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 2nd that Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and Ecuador’s Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, and Investment, Luis Alberto Hara Miyo, signed the SECA agreement during a ministerial meeting in Seoul. Both countries agreed to expedite remaining procedures, including parliamentary ratification, to bring the agreement into effect as soon as possible.
Located in Latin America, Ecuador’s trade volume with South Korea is only $800 million (approximately 1.1136 trillion Korean won), but it ranks third in crude oil reserves in the region and is rich in mineral resources such as copper, zinc, and silver. Additionally, Ecuador adopts the U.S. dollar as its official currency, resulting in relatively low exchange rate risks and investment risks.
The government plans to use Ecuador as a foothold to expand into Latin America and diversify export markets. Under this SECA, South Korea will eliminate tariffs on 96.4% of all items, and Ecuador on 92.8%, within a maximum of 15 years after the agreement takes effect. The maximum 40% tariff on automobiles, a key South Korean export, will be completely abolished within 15 years. Additionally, medium- and small-sized hybrid cars, which are rapidly increasing in sales in Ecuador, will see their current 35% tariff eliminated within five years. While China agreed to abolish automobile tariffs within 20 years and Japan has no FTA with Ecuador, South Korean companies are expected to gain favorable conditions.
Both countries also agreed to mutually open markets for crude oil (3% tariff abolished within 10 years), South Korea’s largest import item, and refined oil (10% tariff abolished within five years), South Korea’s largest export item to Ecuador, to expand trade. Although Ecuador is an oil-producing country, it imports over $6.6 billion worth of gasoline and diesel annually due to insufficient refining facilities.
Consumer goods and processed foods, popular in Latin America due to the Hallyu (Korean Wave), will also be opened. Duty-free benefits will apply to cosmetics (20% tariff abolished within 10 years), ramen (30% within 10 years), seaweed (5% within five years), health beverages (20% within seven years), and pears (15% immediately) to boost exports.
Ecuador will open markets for construction machinery (5% tariff abolished within 10 years), pharmaceuticals (5% immediately), and medical devices (5% within five years), which are in high demand due to Ecuador’s development and welfare policies.
South Korea will import up to 15,000 tons of Ecuadorian frozen shrimp annually duty-free. To protect domestic industries, the government decided to open the market under a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) system, granting duty-free benefits only up to a certain volume. For agricultural, fishery, and forest products, market opening will proceed within the scope of FTAs already signed with neighboring Latin American countries such as Peru and Colombia.
Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo stated, “Through the SECA, we hope that companies from both countries will secure a foothold for export expansion and market diversification and build a future-oriented cooperative relationship.”
South Korea and Ecuador began SECA negotiations in 2016 and finalized the agreement in October 2023 after nine rounds of talks.
