Seoul: South Korea's exports of non-information technology (IT) products to the United States fell more than 10 percent after Washington imposed a series of tariffs early last year, but their share of the U.S. market declined only modestly, a central bank report showed. According to Yonhap News Agency, a report published by the Bank of Korea (BOK) revealed that exports of products subject to U.S. levies, including the 10 percent reciprocal tariffs, declined 12.8 percent annually in the period from the second quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. During the cited period, South Korea's share of the U.S. market for such products fell by 0.4 percentage points, compared with declines of 1.9 percentage points for China, 2.1 percentage points for Japan, and 2.2 percentage points for Germany. The BOK report attributed the relatively modest decline in South Korea's market share to higher tariff rates imposed on Chinese products. The report highlighted that the relatively high tariffs imposed on Chinese prod ucts led to Korean goods partially replacing Chinese ones in the U.S. market. There were several instances where South Korea's market share increased in specific product categories where China's market share in the U.S. had declined. Japanese and German products rarely replaced Chinese goods, it added. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff, referred to as the "fentanyl tariffs," on Chinese goods in February 2025 over Beijing's role in the synthetic opioid crisis. The rate was raised to 20 percent the following month. He also imposed a 50 percent flat tariff on all imported steel and aluminum in March and slapped a 25 percent tariff on vehicles from South Korea. The tariff on vehicles was later lowered to 15 percent under a trade deal between South Korea and the U.S. Reciprocal 10 percent duties were also applied to imports from U.S. trading partners, including South Korea, in April. However, semiconductors, computers, and other IT products were exempt from the reciprocal tariffs. The recip rocal tariffs were blocked by a U.S. court ruling earlier this year.