South Korea and its exporting companies must prepare for new and intensifying import restrictions by other countries, especially the United States, local experts said Tuesday.

They noted the US was widely expected to deviate from multilateral conventions, including the World Trade Organization, while in pursuit of President Donald Trump's "America First" policy.

"In the trade policy agenda released by the US Trade Representative, the US hinted at the possibility of not accepting the outcome of a WTO dispute settlement process in the future," Lee Mi-hyun, an official from the Korea International Trade Association, said at an emergency seminar in Seoul.

The one-day seminar, hosted by KITA, focused on anticipated changes in US trade policies following the inauguration of the new US administration.

However, the meeting also came in the wake of an apparent trade retaliation by China against South Korean firms over Seoul's planned deployment of a US missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

As of Monday, more than 20 large outlet stores run by South Korea's Lotte Group in China have been placed under temporary business suspension, while Beijing is said to have blocked most imports of South Korean cosmetics products.

Earlier reports have also suggested the world's second-largest economy has imposed a sales ban on group tourism programs to South Korea.

Shim Jong-seon, an official from accounting firm Samjong KPMG, insisted each firm must prepare for an increase in trade risks, also urging exporters here to set up their own task forces to deal with international trade relations that are increasingly becoming more complicated.

Park Sang-hwan, an analyst from KPMG US, noted the Trump administration's new border adjustment tax could be especially damaging to many South Korean firms exporting their goods to the US.

Meanwhile, KITA said the number of import restrictions against South Korean products by the US and China came to 36 as of end-February, up more than 16 percent from 31 a year earlier.

Such an increase greatly outpaced a rise in the global tally, which increased only by two to 181 from 179 over the cited period. (Yonhap)