South Korea, US to start renegotiation of free trade agreement in next week

NewsBharati    28-Dec-2017
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Washington, December 28: The United States will have trade talk with one of its most important allies in the first week of upcoming New Year. The two countries will start negotiations to amend their bilateral free trade agreement. South Korean officials, as well as US officials, confirmed the upcoming talk.

Washington will host the first round of talks on 5th January. Trump administration has been talking about the amendment of the pact since a long time. Even, US President Donald Trump blamed the five-year-old deal, known as KORUS, for the growing U.S. trade deficit with South Korea.

"In the upcoming negotiations, we plan to push for the inclusion of our issues of interest with the aim of enhancing mutual reciprocity and achieving a balance of interests," the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.

Despite US administration’s constant pushing, South Korea was initially reluctant to amend the bill. But when Trump threatened to pull out of it, South Korea agreed. South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee, director-general of the ministry's trade policy bureau, and the U.S. ‘s Assistant Trade Representative Michael Beeman will lead the meeting.

South Korea US Trade Talk Free Trade