South Korea trade ministry says ready to begin renegotiating U.S. trade pact

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s trade ministry said on Monday it had reported to parliament a plan to renegotiate the 2012 free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States after President Donald Trump threatened earlier this year to scrap the accord unless it was revised.

The trade ministry said in a statement that Monday’s report completes South Korea’s own process to begin renegotiations of the KORUS FTA, as it is known. Specific dates for renegotiations will be determined in future.

South Korea will seek to protect sensitive industries such as agriculture and livestock while formulating its approach to subjects the United States is expected to raise, including products’ country of origin, services, investment and non-tariff measures, the ministry said.

Trump has complained about current U.S. trade deficit with South Korea, while South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said the Korea-U.S. FTA benefits both countries by expanding their trade.

Moon has said the U.S trade deficit with South Korea was limited to products and was shrinking while South Korea continued to post large trade deficits with the United States in the service sector.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.