South Korea and the US have failed to meet a Thursday deadline to agree on terms for a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries during this year’s G-20 summit in Seoul.
Korean newspaper the Dong-A Ilbo reported the heads of the two countries specified 11 November as the deadline for trade officials to reach an agreement.
Negotiations faltered however, with the newspaper citing regulations on the importation of US cars into Korea as major stumbling block.
“The minimum demand as requested by Washington to allow American cars to enter the Korean market was above the ceiling that Seoul could possibly accept,” a Korean government official told the publication.
It went on to report negotiations between the two countries would continue with hopes a deal would be reached by year’s end.
The failure to sign an agreement comes as a blow to the US agricultural sector, which supplied 30 per cent of Korea’s agricultural imports last year, with a total value to the country of US$3.9bn.
The Wall Street Journal reported that under a Free Trade Agreement almost two-thirds of products exported to Korea from the US would immediately become duty free, making products such as cherries, almonds, corn, cotton, orange juice and wine more price-competitive.
“If the US fails to implement the KORUS `Korea-US` Free Trade Agreement, it will likely lose market share to its competitors who have enacted Free Trade Agreements with Korea,” the USDA was quoted as saying.
Korea currently has Free Trade Agreements with the European Union, Chile, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations and is negotiating accords with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China.
No comments yet