No clear sign of breakthrough yet in final Seoul-Washington FTA talks
Yonhap News, Seoul
No clear sign of breakthrough yet in final Seoul-Washington FTA talks
By Kim Deok-hyun
28 March 2007
SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) — There were no clear sings of a breakthrough yet in agricultural and other key pending issues, as the 10-month free trade agreement talks between South Korea and the United States were winding down to a close, both sides said.
"No, I don’t recognize yet," U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Steve Norton told Yonhap News Agency Tuesday night after the second day of talks, when asked whether there was any early signs of a breakthrough. "Most difficult decisions will be made at the end of this week."
Norton was referring to April 2, by which U.S. negotiators must submit a deal for a mandatory 90-day congressional review under U.S. President George W. Bush’s "fast-track" trade promotion authority, which expires on July 1. Friday (Washington time) is the last working day before the April 2 deadline.
South Korean officials said wide gaps remain notably in the agricultural sector where rice, the Korean staple food, is by far the most sensitive of all. They openly warned that if the U.S. raises the issue of rice, the talks will collapse.
After their subordinates failed to narrow differences over "fewer than 10 issues," South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia began the final negotiations on Monday.
In addition to agricultural products, those pending issues include cars, textiles, anti-dumping remedies and pharmaceuticals.
On Tuesday, the U.S. requested South Korea to present by this weekend a "written timeframe" for reopening its market fully to U.S. beef, according to South Korean’s Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong-seok.
South Korea, Min said, rejected the U.S. demand, saying that it’s difficult to pledge a timeframe before the World Organization for Animal Health is set to review the health risk over U.S. beef in May.
Last year, South Korea resumed imports of only boneless U.S. beef, lifting a three-year ban prompted by the discovery of a mad cow case in the U.S. in 2003. But, the first three shipments were turned back after bone chips were found in them.
The beef trade row is not part of the ongoing Seoul-Washington free trade agreement talks but U.S. officials warn that their lawmakers won’t approve a deal with South Korea unless the issue is resolved amicably.
The U.S. is also asking South Korea to abolish its 40 percent import tariffs on beef under the proposed FTA, according to South Korean officials.
"Both sides will separately hold high-level agricultural talks until Thursday," Min said. "If there still are outstanding issues, they will be turned over to the ministerial-level bargaining table."
Some studies show that if the two sides strike a deal, it would boost bilateral trade worth US$74 billion last year by about 20 percent.
For the U.S., a deal with South Korea would be its biggest since it launched the North American FTA with Mexico and Canada in 1994.
