S Korean island urges US negotiators to remove oranges from FTA
Yonhap
S. KOREAN ISLAND URGES US NEGOTIATORS TO REMOVE ORANGES FROM FTA
Monday October 23, 2006
SEOGWIPO, South Korea, Oct 23 Asia Pulse — As the host of ongoing free trade talks with the United States, the South Korean island of Jeju appealed on Monday for Washington’s negotiators to exclude oranges from a bilateral trade pact that is being planned.
Tangerine groves abound in the southern half of the island, serving as its No. 1 cash crop among fruit with 86 per cent of its farming households engaging in this business.
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"Dear chief negotiator Wendy Cutler, I earnestly ask you to exclude tangerines from negotiating lists in the free trade talks," said Jeju Governor Kim Tae-hwan in a meeting with Cutler and her South Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-hoon.
Cutler did not immediately respond to the appeal.
Currently, South Korea imposes a 50 per cent tariff on U.S. oranges. If a pact is signed, South Korea is likely to be required to phase out the tariff within five years, the Jeju provincial government said in a statement.
Hit by a flood of cheap oranges from the U.S., the island expects to lose 2 trillion won (US$2.2 billion) in lost tangerine production, according to the statement.
