A state-run think tank says the country has grown more dependent on the United States and China as trade partners since the 2010s.

In a report released Tuesday, the Korea Development Institute(KDI) said South Korea is an easy target in tariff policies as it is becoming more reliant on the U.S. as an export market and on China for imports.

Exports to the U.S., led by shipments of automobiles and semiconductors, jumped eight percentage points between 2012 and 2024, while imports from China, mostly in manufacturing, rose six-point-six percentage points in the same period.

The report expressed concern about threats to the nation’s economic security, saying changes in the trade environment have mostly stemmed from technological, industrial and policy changes in the U.S. and China, as well as from geopolitical discord.

The KDI proposed a two-track approach to trade diversification consisting of state and corporate support, and suggested that South Korea join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose 12 member economies do not include the U.S. or China.