Some 2,000 South Korean farmers, movie-makers and anti-US activists staged a candlelight protest Friday against free trade negotiations with the United States.
With the government’s recent efforts to sign a free trade agreement with the United States drawing intense opposition from farmers here, a top Korean government official said the trade negotiators would try to exempt rice from the economic pact.
Ecuadorian Foreign Affaire Minister Jorge Illingworth asserted that a Free Trade Agreement with the US would basically depend on a favorable agriculture deal.
South Korea’s rice industry could suffer a significant drop in earnings and production if the country signs a free trade pact with the United States, even if rice is excluded from the deal, a report said Wednesday.
Improving the quality of locally grown agricultural products will be a key government goal this year as more imports are expected to be sold on the South Korean market, the country’s agriculture minister said Monday.
Canberra hopes to reach a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Seoul, Peter Rowe, Australia’s new ambassador to South Korea, said on Thursday. He also underlined that the bilateral trade deal would not hurt South Korea’s agriculture industry.
A free-trade agreement (FTA) that Thailand signed with China a little over two years ago has begun to worry politicians and academics, who say it has proved disastrous for the Southeast Asian country’s farmers.
The US will push Korea for further negotiations on resuming imports of US beef with parts attached to the bone included, an official with the US Embassy in Korea said Wednesday. This January, the Korean government partly lifted the ban to ease the way for free-trade talks.
South Korea is willing to resume talks with Japan on a free trade agreement (FTA) if the latter promises to open its agricultural market wider, Seoul’s top economic policymaker said Saturday.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner who supports a free-trade agreement with the United States was favored in pre-election polls as Costa Ricans chose a new president on Sunday. He faced a rival who said the pact would hurt farmers.
To the delight of free traders and the apprehension of Korean farmers and other globalization foes, the United States and Korea announced Thursday that they would begin negotiations on a free trade agreement.
The National Agricultural Convention (CONVEAGRO) will present 40,000 signatures at the National Electoral Jury to back up their demand to submit signing of a free trade agreement with the US to a national referendum.
Disagreements on issues like agriculture are forcing the Colombian government on Friday to delay the possible signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, scheduled for this weekend.
Angry farmers have broken up a public hearing to discuss impending talks between South Korea and the US on establishing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officials said.
The reduction of tariffs on wide range of agricultural products as mandated by Executive Orders 485 and 487 under the China-ASEAN FTA would impact the Philippines’ vegetable and fruit industries, a coalition of nongovernment organizations for the agriculture sector said.
US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley warned that agricultural market access terms of the Colombia agreement must be at least as good as the CAFTA. If Colombia can’t agree to those terms, "there’s really not much point in continuing negotiations" a Committee aide said.
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said South Korean farmers’ protests are not expected to affect efforts to start negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA).
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