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“Because that activity may not be visible publicly doesn't mean it's not happening.”
South Korea has challenged export restrictions imposed on Seoul by Japan at the World Trade Organization, escalating an ongoing trade tension between two major U.S. trading partners while the U.S. largely sticks to the sidelines.
Under pressure from the U.S., South Korea is preparing to abandon its status as a developing country at the World Trade Organization, the government said on Wednesday.
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho was set to meet with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell and Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth Keith Krach.
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho was set to meet with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell and Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth Keith Krach.
A U.S. official on Wednesday called for Japan and Korea to do some “soul searching” amid flaring tensions between the two countries, while Japan on Thursday approved its first export licenses for chemicals used in tech products headed to South Korea after imposing export restrictions last week.
While an escalating trade fight between Japan and South Korea is already affecting U.S. supply chains, the Trump administration has yet to show definitively whether it plans to intervene -- though industry officials and analysts say they would like to see the U.S. do so.
The request will be heard at a special DSB meeting on Aug. 9.
“I plan to explain to all those involved that Japan's measure affects the global economy, with implications for all products that use semiconductors.”
“Japan’s trade-restrictive measures could not only hurt Korean enterprises but also disrupt the global supply chain.”
The U.S. says Korea's Fair Trade Commission, which handles antitrust issues, denies U.S. companies “due process rights under the agreement that are necessary to secure a fair competition hearing.”
The company says the “current safeguard remedy is imposing a cost of approximately $1.5 billion each year on consumers.”
South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-ching and representatives from a major Korean auto group are in Washington, DC, this week for meetings with U.S. lawmakers and government officials to reiterate Seoul's opposition to the Section 232 auto probe.
“Look beyond KORUS,” the Asia Society Policy Institute recommends.
South Korea should be prepared to challenge national security-based import restrictions on Korean autos and auto parts at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere because such duties are “not logical,” a former senior Korean trade official said on Wednesday.
“The main compliment of the KORUS FTA was on the automobile sector. And to be frank, we don’t think it makes much sense if it applies to Korea because we accommodated most of the demands on the U.S. side on automobiles.”
The EU says the measures are needed due to concerns that steel subject to Section 232 tariffs in the U.S. could be dumped in the bloc.
The Trump administration will have its hands full in 2019, with new talks slated to begin with Brussels, Tokyo, London and potentially more, as well as the implementation of a revised deal with South Korea. The fate of the U.S.-Mexico -Canada Agreement will also be determined next year by a new Congress.