A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives targeting foreign government officials who discriminatorily regulate American companies, with South Korea's Coupang cited as a case in point.

Representative Michael Baumgartner of the Republican Party announced on the 23rd local time that he introduced a bill to amend immigration laws targeting foreign government officials who discriminatorily regulate US businesses.

The core content of the bill includes subjecting foreign officials who lead regulations, such as conducting discriminatory investigations against US companies or imposing fines and taxes, to entry bans and deportation from the United States.

In particular, Representative Baumgartner mentioned South Korea's regulation of Coupang as a representative example while explaining the background of the bill's proposal.

Representative Baumgartner claimed, "South Korean authorities have conducted dozens of investigations against the American-backed enterprise Coupang, demanded the submission of thousands of documents, and subsequently imposed the largest fine in history."

He also presented Brazil's regulation of US IT companies and the European Union's sanctions against Google under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as examples of discriminatory regulations against US companies.

Furthermore, he argued that denying foreign officials who discriminate against US companies the "privilege" of entering the United States is a more realistic countermeasure than investigations by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) or the renegotiation of trade agreements.

Representative Baumgartner is considered a leading figure within the Republican Party in raising issues against the South Korean government regarding the Coupang matter. Last April, along with 53 fellow Republican lawmakers, he sent a letter to then-Ambassador to the US Kang Kyung-wha to the effect that "the South Korean government is taking discriminatory and politically motivated measures targeting American companies."

At that time, Republican lawmakers cited the review of business suspension against Coupang and the seizure and search of its Seoul office as examples of discriminatory regulations against Coupang.

(Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Lee Dain | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)