An outrage

You want to know how hard it is to ship fresh U.S. potatoes to South Korea? The government there has a tariff rate quota system, meaning that x amount of tons is given a "favorable" tariff rate and the over quota imports get socked at a higher rate.

In this case, the in quota potato imports with supposedly favorable treatment pay a whopping 30% tariff and over quota imported potatoes pay in excess of 300%.

The U.S. is one of a handful of exporters who serve the South Korea market, but its market share has dropped of late. Here is a report from FAS about South Korea's reluctant potato trade. The U.S. farmer could surely benefit from a free trade agreement with South Korea.

Another FAS report released in recent days talks about Israel's citrus outlook. The shortage of grapefruit from Florida is helping Israel's 28 exporters boost grapefruit sales to Japan; the U.S. gets only about 5% of Israel's citrus exports.