Korean official: Ratify free trade pact - The Detroit News

Nation's ambassador to America says both countries will benefit

August 19, 2010
By David Shepardson

The Korean ambassador to the United States urged Michigan business leaders Wednesday to endorse a long-stalled free trade agreement between the two countries, saying U.S. auto imports "can and should be increased a lot more."

Ambassador Han Duk-soo told the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce that the agreement "will actually make things better, not worse, for the auto industry and its workers," according to a copy of his remarks provided by the Korean Embassy in Washington.
 
He argued the deal "will open fully an increasingly affluent consumer market to U.S. automakers by erasing the 8 percent tariff they pay on all their exports to Korea while the U.S. will eliminate its tariff of only 2.5 percent."
 
Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC say more changes must be made to open the Korean market to U.S. imports.
 
Last year, just over 7,000 U.S.-built vehicles were purchased in Korea, versus more than 411,000 exported to the U.S.
 
The Bush administration signed the agreement in April 2007, but it hasn't been ratified by Congress. President Barack Obama has said he wants U.S. and Korean negotiators to address concerns by November to allow ratification by early next year.
 
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the agreement needs far more work.
 
The document, he said, "does not ensure a change in the status quo necessary to bring about meaningful market access and two-way trade in autos and other manufactured goods."
 
Levin said South Korea "has historically relied on unfair taxes, regulations and other measures to shut out foreign automobile imports."
 
Han noted the U.S. belief that "Korea's auto market is heavily protected by so-called nontariff barriers and the (agreement) does nothing about them; and that it is an unfair deal overall."
 
While acknowledging that his country's auto market once was "protected," Han said "that time is long gone, and the current perception is not based on current realities."
 
Han noted that since 2000, auto imports to Korea increased on average 40 percent each year, reaching 7.2 percent of market share by 2008. But it's still far less than most major auto markets.
 
"As the Korean ambassador to the United States, I would like to see more Ford, Chrysler and GM cars in the streets of Korea than other foreign cars. And we know from experience that if we work together we can make that happen," he said.
 
General Motors Co., which owns a Korean car company, Daewoo, has stayed neutral on the free trade agreement.
 
Chrysler said it is "encouraged by the Obama administration's current negotiations to address the serious concerns the auto industry has expressed regarding the auto provisions."