South Korea scored a key win in its trade battle with the United States, as the U.S. Court of International Trade overturned a decision that labeled the country’s electricity rates as an unfair subsidy. The case, filed by Hyundai Steel with South Korea’s government as a third-party participant, challenged the U.S. Commerce Department’s 2023 ruling that targeted four high-energy-use industries. The court criticized the use of “simplistic metrics” to determine imbalance and questioned grouping practices for widely used resources like electricity.

The ruling ordered the Commerce Department to revise its findings within 90 days, offering South Korean exporters a temporary reprieve. However, the reassessment process will coincide with the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising uncertainties about the political and trade dynamics that could reshape the outcome.