U.S. not ready to discuss trade issues in KORUS FTA
The United States is not yet ready to discuss key issues with South Korea that need to be addressed before the two countries ratify their free trade agreement (FTA), a senior U.S. trade official said Monday, according to Yonhap news agency.
The bilateral KORUS FTA was signed in 2007, but still awaits ratification from the legislatures of both countries.
"What we are doing in the United States is a real reviewing of the free trade agreement and looking at areas we have concerns expressed," Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, Korea and APEC Affairs, told Yonhap News Agency.
"One of the key areas we have concerns expressed with the free trade agreement is the automotive sector," she said.
The imbalance in auto trade and restricted shipments of U.S. beef are key hurdles to the early ratification of the free trade accord, signed in 2007.
Some U.S. officials have said in public they want to address those issues in side agreements to avoid a possible revision of the text of the deal.
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