Forgot password?
Sign up today and your first download is free.
REGISTER
The U.S. and South Korea, in their talks on how to modify the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, agreed to establish panels to monitor rules of origin and investment issues, according to documents released this week.
USTR said the documents outline the “amendments and modifications to KORUS as well as additional agreements and understandings to improve implementation of the trade pact.”
The U.S. on Wednesday amended a controversial Section 232 process to allow companies from countries that agreed to separate quota deals for steel and aluminum to apply for product exclusions.
South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said last week he was confident the country would be exempted from any Section 232 restrictions on autos and auto parts, contending that provisions agreed to in the modernization of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement provided Seoul with protection.
If the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement is terminated, U.S. households would face a consumption tax of $4.6 billion annually, according to a report to be released on Thursday.
South Korea has temporarily agreed not to impose sanctions on the U.S. for a zeroing methodology the Commerce Department used to calculate duties on large residential washers from Seoul as it pushes Washington to modify a Section 232 product exclusion process for steel and aluminum imports, sources tell Inside U.S. Trade.
Hyundai is “planning to invest $2.5 billion to upgrade our facilities between now and 2021, but if tariffs take effect, all of that would have to be re-evaluated.”
If the Trump administration hits Seoul with tariffs as a result of its Section 232 autos investigation, the amended U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement “becomes meaningless,” Korea’s minister of trade, industry and energy said on Thursday.
Washington and Seoul are expected to sign a revised version of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement as early as September, the Korean Trade Ministry said last week, adding that discussions on “some technical areas” are continuing even though the wording of the pact has been completed.
The 20-year extension of the 25 percent U.S. duty on light and medium and heavy trucks agreed to in principle by the Trump administration and Korean government as part of the revised U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement would continue to dissuade Korean exporters from entering the U.S. truck market, the U.S. International Trade Commission reported Monday in an analysis requested by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Adm. Harry Harris is bound for Seoul, while hotelier Gordon Sondland will head to Europe.