South Korea’s top trade official says they will not make any changes to the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Last week President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met during the G-20 Summit in Toronto. After that meeting, Obama said discussions would restart to iron out differences with the agreement signed by the two countries in 2007. That deal has yet to be ratified by legislatures in either country; Washington says the biggest problem is with Korean non-tariff barriers on U.S. autos and beef. South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon told Yonhap News revision of the text, “Will not take place.”
In 2008, South Korea did agree to accept U.S. beef from animals less than 30 months of age, the U.S. wants that age limit eliminated. Korean officials say the 30-month restriction is in place in other countries, why should they be singled out?
U.S. automakers say South Korea is shipping hundreds-of-thousands of their cars to America but allow very few American cars into their country. The Koreans argue their car number includes Hyundais made in Alabama while the U.S. number does not include 125,000 vehicles made by a GM subsidiary in Korea.
President Obama says he wants everything put together in the agreement by the time he visits South Korea for the next G-20 Summit in November and will present it to Congress after that.
Meanwhile, the Canadians have asked to meet with Korean officials in mid-July to try to get Seoul to lift their ban on Canadian beef. That ban has been in place since the first BSE case in Canada in 2003. Ottawa filed with a WTO dispute panel in 2009 contending they were classified as a controlled risk country in 2007 and the market should be open. A decision could take at least two years. Last week China agreed to allow some boneless Canadian beef imports from cattle under 30 months of age, the first beef to enter China from a country with BSE.
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