South Korean businesses will need to keep an eye on US President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to invest in clean energy and on his softer approach to trade deals ultimately to take advantage of the incoming administration’s policies, the head of the Korea International Trade Association said Tuesday.

“South Korean businesses should focus on how different the Biden administration will be from the Trump administration when it comes to economic and trade policy,” said KITA Chairman Kim Young-ju during a videoconference.

“Companies in both countries should closely work together in seeking ways to collaborate in the Green New Deal sector,” he added.

Kim’s comments come as the new US president-elect has vowed to invest $400 billion over 10 years “as one part of a broad mobilization of public investment, in clean energy and innovation.”

According to his campaign, the investment is “twice that of the Apollo program which put a man on the moon, in today’s dollars.”

Biden is seen as a departure from the current US administration on many issues, including clean energy, as President Trump has dismissed renewable energy on several occasions.

During one presidential debate in October, he said wind energy was “extremely expensive.” Fact checkers said wind-energy costs remained lower than ever as of last year.

Partner lawyer Stacy Ettinger said the new Biden administration will shift away from Trump’s unilateralism and move toward “recovering relations with trade partners and establish the international trade order together.”

Ettinger said Biden’s economic policy, at the core of which lies rebuilding the supply chain and investing in renewable energy, is a trade and investment opportunity for Korean companies branching out into the US.

During the event on Tuesday, Choi Yong-min, the president of KITA’s Institute for International Trade, said the association will provide support for Korean companies in the form of reports and seminars to keep up with changes in the global trade environment during the Biden era.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)