| The U.S., which is carrying out additional negotiations in regard to the KORUS FTA, said on June 22, "Let`s put a clause in which foreign investors are not protected more than their domestic counterparts.” The U.S. seems to want to protect its investors as well as its industries with this clause.
Kim Jong-hoon, Korea’s chief free trade negotiator, and his American counterpart Wendy Cutler, launched renegotiations in seven different areas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade building located in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The two sides discussed “general dispute procedures,” which will introduce retaliatory measures such as cutting off tax benefits or forcing monetary compensation on countries that breach agreements.
A Korean official from the ministry said, “Suggestions made by the U.S. on June 21 and 22 related to additional KORUS FTA renegotiations are not very different from what we had expected.”
U.S. trade representative Wendy Cutler said in a press conference, “Additional negotiations will not undermine the interests of one country while providing more benefits to the other.”
In the meantime, there is controversy over a U.S. suggestion that the two conclude negotiations before June 30, the date when both were scheduled to sign the trade accord.
Korea’s strategy is not to be in a hurry to conclude the negotiations. However, with the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) no longer valid after June 30, and U.S. Congress discontent with the KORUS FTA’s automobile sector provisions, the Korean government may give in to U.S. demands.
The government will soon convene meetings with related government agencies and discuss how long they will hold negotiations and what to demand from the U.S.
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