Where did the president’s initial FTA principles go?
The Hankyoreh, Seoul
Editorial: Where did the president’s initial FTA principles go?
23 March 2007
Talks between the leading negotiators for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and the United States are about to come to a close. The process as a whole is coming to an end, since it is possible a pact will be signed on March 30 when the concerned ministers from the two countries meet next week.
Put simply, this latest round of talks was as disappointing as can be. The Korean desire to have a larger "screen quota" (the ratio of domestic films theaters are required to show) was not accommodated in the slightest way. Products produced at the joint Korean Gaeseong Industrial Park are not going to be recognized as domestic products. The "patent period" is going to essentially be extended, just as the U.S. demanded. The topic of the safety of U.S. beef, something that wasn’t even originally a topic up for discussion, has instead turned into a question of how much Korea is going to concede in terms of health standards. Korea hasn’t succeeded at getting anything it wanted.
At a cabinet meeting on March 13, president Roh Moo-hyun said his government would maintain three principles: He would look at the pure economic benefits of the agreement and if it is not in the economic interest of the country to sign the agreement, it won’t; if it is hard to agree on a wide-ranging free trade pact, Korea will seek a "lower-level" agreement; and Korea will not be preoccupied with the deadline set by the U.S. Congress. We think these are principles that must be maintained.
Let’s look at real economic benefit. Korea made a lot of concessions prior to the talks between chief negotiators. Korea granted the U.S. its initial four major preconditions, and Korea has failed to achieve anything in the area of the trade remedies it talked about so much. Nothing much should be expected of the ministerial-level talks coming next week. The U.S. shows no sign of relaxing its stance on the country of origin rules for textiles, saying that textiles made in China will be represented as Korean. As for removing tariffs on automobiles, it is unlikely the U.S. will concede anything about its position because U.S. automakers are in dire straits.
There was a hearing at the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, and it was a good demonstration of the atmosphere on the U.S. side of things. Members of the U.S. Congress and industry representatives demanded that the U.S. see to it that its demands are met in areas like rice, automobiles, and beef. Korea has won almost nothing, and yet we are already hearing that a document is going to be signed on March 30. Does that mean the principles President Roh announced were just a political gesture aimed at appeasing public opposition to the FTA?
As much as can be done was done at the working-level talks. The issue can no longer be left to the government’s trade negotiation section. It is time to examine the process at the top of the executive branch and at the National Assembly. Let us return to the three principles the president talked about. Real economic benefit is to be given the greatest priority. If that doesn’t work, negotiations are to be a long-term process or be concluded at a level where both sides can agree. An FTA with the U.S. should not be signed without economic benefit and for having obsessed with the goal of just getting an agreement.
