Negotiators are “engaged on their priority areas of interest” for revisions of the U.S.-South Korean free-trade agreement, but the U.S. trade representative’s office says there is “much work to do before we can reach an agreement that serves the economic interests of the American people.” South Korea is the sixth-largest market for U.S. farm exports; the Trump administration has focused on industrial products such as automobiles.
“There’s some risk, though, that trade tinkering on the goods side will hurt either U.S. agriculture exporters or America’s broader services sector,” said U.S. News and World Report. Seoul is forecast to buy $6.7 billion of U.S. farm goods, about 5 percent of ag exports, this fiscal year.
“The renegotiation follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s blaming of the six-year-old deal for his country’s growing trade deficit with Asia’s fourth largest economy. But Seoul has pointed to macroeconomic factors and the U.S. surplus in services trade,” said the Yonhap news agency. “Washington has called for better access to South Korea’s auto market, among other items.”
A former U.S. trade official told the New York Times that the administration has not notified Congress of its intent to renegotiate the trade pact. “That may suggest that the United States is not seeking to significantly alter the terms of the deal or that, although it is seeking changes from South Korea, it is not willing to make big concessions itself,” said the Times.