Americans know what economic warfare looks like. Americans were made to believe that only major adversaries like China weaponized regulations to cripple U.S. companies.

But today, U.S. companies are on the receiving end of economic hostility from one of America’s closest allies: South Korea.

Less than a year on the job, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, along with Korean lawmakers in the National Assembly, has launched a coordinated regulatory assault on American companies. A campaign that looks far less like legitimate antitrust enforcement and far more like economic nationalism aimed squarely at the United States.

The list of targets is unmistakable. Google, Apple, Meta, Netflix, Uber, and Coupang—the American-founded e-commerce powerhouse that has become one of the most successful logistics and retail platforms in the world.

South Korean lawmakers and regulators are enacting so-called “digital platform” rules—the latest iteration is ironically called the “Fairness Act”—designed to harm U.S. firms and protect Korean companies from foreign competition, giving them an upper hand in the market. That’s not free trade. That’s protectionism dressed up in bureaucratic language.

These actions are also part of an increasing anti-American sentiment from Korean leaders. The top regulator behind these policies, Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Chair Joo Byung-ki, recently described “white Midwestern American workers” as “angry” and having a “sense of deprivation” due to Trump’s policies, calling them a “failure.” Joo also vowed to continue to target U.S. companies.

The enforcement tactics are even more disturbing. American companies report office raids, computer seizures, coercive interrogations, and threats of criminal prosecution, often without basic due process protections. This is the behavior Americans associate with hostile regimes, not treaty allies.

Consider U.S. technology company Coupang.

Founded by a Korean American entrepreneur and headquartered in the United States, Coupang is a model of American-style innovation: fast logistics, consumer-first service, and relentless efficiency. It is the country’s second-largest employer after Samsung, serving millions of Korean consumers and supporting tens of thousands of jobs. It has been the largest source of foreign direct investment in the country. In recent years, the company has posted strong revenue growth, expanded high-margin services, and demonstrated real financial momentum.

By any rational standard, Coupang should be celebrated as a model of successful U.S.–Korea cooperation. Instead, it has become a political target.

South Korea’s National Assembly has now voted to file a criminal complaint against Coupang’s American founder and chairman, a move that could lead to arrest if he attempts to re-enter the country. Even more stunning, President Lee has reportedly issued a directive to “bankrupt” the company outright.

This escalation is rocking the U.S.–Korea trade relationship.

According to Politico, the Trump administration is increasingly alarmed and moving to intervene. In a surprising move, the U.S. Trade Representative cancelled a scheduled meeting with Korean officials last week, effectively stalling implementation of the recently agreed U.S.–Korea trade deal. Trump also issued a public warning on X to multiple countries, including South Korea, over the continued harassment of American companies.

That is what consequences look like.

On December 17, Coupang’s American interim CEO, HL Rogers, was hauled before the Korean National Assembly, insulted, with one lawmaker referring to him as a “scarecrow,” and was denied access to legal counsel. This disgraceful spectacle stemmed from a data breach limited to Coupang’s Korean subsidiary, involving only basic contact information. No banking data, payment details, or login credentials were compromised. Yet Korean lawmakers treated it as a pretext for public humiliation and intimidation.

The day before, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on South Korea’s continued harassment of American firms, with senior members, including Rep. Darrell Issa, issuing a blunt warning to Seoul: stop targeting U.S. companies. Former Trump National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has warned that these tactics are poisoning the alliance and strengthening China’s hand.

Platforms tied to Beijing, like TikTok, Temu, and Alibaba, continue expanding in Korea with minimal resistance from Korean lawmakers. At the same time, the United States maintains more than 28,500 troops on the Korean Peninsula, underwriting South Korea’s security against the Chinese Communist Party that benefits from this economic double standard.

Public statements from senior Korean officials openly call for punitive fines, bankruptcy, expulsion, and harsher sanctions aimed specifically at Coupang and its American leadership. One lawmaker declared the company should be “expelled” entirely, confident that Korean firms could simply replace it.

This is economic nationalism with an unmistakable anti-American tilt.

The economic stakes are enormous. Research by the think tank Competere shows South Korea’s discriminatory behavior comes with an economic cost to both the U.S. and Korean economies to the tune of nearly $1 trillion in global economic losses over the next decade.

The Trump administration and Capitol Hill lawmakers have taken the right approach: clear lines, firm warnings, and a willingness to use trade enforcement tools, including Section 301 investigations and tariffs, if Korea refuses to honor its commitments.

Free trade does not mean free abuse. Alliances do not include the right to threaten American executives with jail. And U.S. military protection is not a subsidy for anti-American economic warfare. This warning by Trump has been extended to other countries as well, including the EU, which has been pushing similar regulatory penalties for American firms.

If Korea wants to preserve its relationship with the United States, the path forward is obvious: stop the lawfare and drop the threats. The current trade deal appears to be increasingly icy after the Koreans’ attacks have gone into overdrive in the last several weeks. Korea must stop criminalizing American business success or it can continue down a path of confrontation and face the full economic response of an America that has finally decided to stand up for itself.

America First doesn’t mean America alone. But it does mean America won’t be bullied.

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Steve Cortes is president of the League of American Workers and advisor to Catholic Vote. He directs political campaigns on media, polling, and Hispanic outreach, including Trump 2016/2020 and Vance 2022 US Senate. He is a former broadcaster for Fox News and CNN.