In South Korea, exports to the US grew 3 percent in the period, slowing from growth of 19 percent in the previous three months. The US buys a fifth of South Korean shipments, which account for 40 percent of its economy.
US growth will probably accelerate to 3.6 percent in the second half of the year, according to the National Association for Business Economics. A weaker dollar may wipe out the benefits Asia might expect from faster growth.
By the end of this year, the dollar may be 11 percent lower against a basket of other currencies, Barclays Capital Inc estimates. That would knock 5.5 percent off US import growth this year.
The US isn't likely to grow at the 5.7 percent pace needed to overcome the effect of the dollar's decline, "making it quite likely that US import growth will slow this year,"Henry Willmore, chief US economist at Barclays Capital, wrote in a May 8 report.
Asian companies count on a rising dollar to increase demand for their products and boost the value of sales when they are converted back into local currencies.
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