Negotiators extend deadline for South Korea trade pact
New York Times
Negotiators Extend Deadline for South Korea Trade Pact
By Steven R. Weisman and Choe Sang-Hun
31 March 2007
WASHINGTON, March 30 — United States and South Korean negotiators on Friday extended a deadline to reach a free-trade agreement, as Washington struggled to complete a deal that could be used as a model for other Asian countries.
The two countries had originally set a deadline of Friday but extended it to Sunday night.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the United States trade representative, said in Washington that talks continued on several outstanding issues.
The deadline is dictated by the administration’s attempt to seek Congressional approval of the deal before President Bush’s “fast track” authority expires on July 1.
Congress must vote on any trade pact submitted by that date with a straight yes or no vote, without amendments.
A trade agreement could still be submitted after “fast track” expires, but would be subject to amendments.
The deal, if successfully concluded, would quickly remove 85 percent to 90 percent of tariffs between the countries, officials in Seoul said. Studies have estimated that it would add $20 billion to bilateral trade, estimated at $74 billion last year.
Both sides have held fast to their bottom lines on such potential deal-breakers as autos, agriculture and textiles.
In Washington, Democratic leaders warned that any deal on trade with South Korea would have to include protections for labor rights and the environment and safeguards against piracy of copyrights before Congress would approve it.
Separate discussions on such safeguards are under way between the administration and Congress.
In a letter on Wednesday to the United States trade representative, Susan C. Schwab, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and other senior Democrats criticized the administration’s negotiating tactics, calling for “significant course correction” from a “one-way street” in Seoul’s favor.
The proposed deal “is completely inadequate in the face of Korea’s longstanding iron curtain to American manufactured products,” especially United States cars, the letter said.
Last year, 4,000 American cars were sold in South Korea, while South Korea exported 800,000 vehicles to the United States.
Around 80 percent of the $13 billion American trade deficit with South Korea last year came from the imbalance in automotive trade.
The two sides were also at loggerheads on how to reduce trade barriers against American beef and oranges and South Korean textiles and semiconductors. Seoul keeps an average 52 percent duty on farm products, including 40 percent tariffs on beef, a point that has soured American lawmakers on the deal.
Speaking at the National Assembly, Han Duk-soo, prime minister-designate of South Korea, said that if the United States insisted on including rice in the deal, “there will be no F.T.A.,” or free trade agreement.
Rice sells in South Korea for four times the international price.
South Korean farmers and leftist civic groups have staged daily protests against the trade pact. They fear that cheaper U.S. goods would cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions in revenue for local farmers.
Bush to Sign Panama Deal
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - President Bush notified Congress on Friday that his administration planned to sign a free trade agreement with Panama before the White House’s fast-track trade authority expires at the end of June.
The pact removes tariffs and other trade barriers between the countries in manufacturing, services and other sectors.
The United States and Panama wrapped up the deal in December, one month after an election victory gave Democrats control of Congress.
Steven R. Weisman reported from Washington and Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul, South Korea.
