Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

U.S.-Korea Trade Talks Pit Pickup Trucks against Nuclear Threat

U.S.-Korea Trade Talks Pit Pickup Trucks against Nuclear Threat

WASHINGTON/SEOUL - The United States and South Korea on Friday completed the first round of review talks on a bilateral trade deal with Washington saying there was “much work to do” to reach a new pact.
Since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of talks on a 14-nation Asia-Pacific trade pact, started negotiations on a new deal for the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada and initiated a review of the 2012 Korea deal.
Washington has taken a hard line in the NAFTA talks, which appear stalled with just two rounds of negotiations left, saying that concessions are the only way for Canada and Mexico to keep the deal.
The Korea trade talks will have to strike a balance between Trump’s domestic agenda and the need to contain a nuclear-armed North Korea. A swift agreement would have aided that, officials from both sides told Reuters ahead of the talks on Friday. The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea has doubled since the 2012 signing of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). Almost 90 percent of the 2016 shortfall of $27.6 billion came from the auto sector, an issue the United States is expected to press hard in the Washington talks.  (Reuters)