Canada, South Korea pact not close, Flaherty says
Bloomberg | 23 November 2007
Canada, South Korea Pact Not Close, Flaherty Says
By Joe Schneider
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said his country and South Korea aren’t close to a free-trade agreement because the Asian nation hasn’t pledged adequate access to its market.
I believe in reciprocity,'' Flaherty said today in a speech in Oshawa, Ontario, home to much of Canada's automotive industry. Flaherty, 57, said the proposed free-trade agreement isnot about to happen.’’
Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker — which builds cars in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto — said it may rethink new investment in Canada if a free-trade agreement with South Korea doesn’t give Ford better access to that market.
We absolutely must have reciprocal access to the Korean market,'' Bill Osborne, the head of Ford's Canadian unit, told reporters yesterday.
Canada and South Korea are negotiating an agreement following the conclusion of a Korea-U.S. deal that has yet to be ratified. Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson last month said his government will needbreakthroughs’’ in order to conclude a deal this year, citing the auto industry as the biggest hurdle.
The opposition Liberal Party won’t support a trade accord that doesn’t open the South Korean market to Canadian exporters, the party’s trade critic Navdeep Singh Bains said in an e-mailed statement. South Korea imports one Canadian car for every 400 it sends to Canada, Bains said.
The current trade imbalance with South Korea is unacceptable,'' he said.It is caused by protectionist policies.’’
The governing Conservative Party doesn’t have enough lawmakers in Parliament to pass legislation without support from at least one opposition party.
Calls by Bloomberg News to the economic development office at South Korea’s embassy in Canada weren’t immediately returned.
