Korea, the US prepares the summit with details of unresolved trade agreements
When South Korea and the United States prepared to the peak of their leaders, the topics were not resolved by the new trade agreement to provide space for more disputes between the main allies and trading partners, six former negotiator and experts said.
President Donald Trump can use the Summit with colleague Lee Jae Myung to look for more concessions about the company’s defense and investment costs, which are abandoned from the agreement, while obstacles and non-tariff currencies can prove difficult problems, experts said.
No official summit date was revealed, although Trump last week gave a period of two weeks.
The absence of a written agreement underlying the conversation last week can open the way for disputes, with some differences that have appeared on the account of two parties regarding the agreement.
The key among this is the rejection of Sunday by the South Korean Presidential Advisor claiming that it will take 90% of the profit from the $ 350 billion project investment by South Korea, who also agreed to open its domestic rice market.
“Even binding agreements such as FTA have been canceled efficiently,” said Choi Seok-Young, a former head of negotiator for the Korean-US free trade agreement, signed in 2007. “And this is just a promise.”
Last week’s pact was reduced from the previous South Korean plan for a package agreement on trade, security and investment imagined before the peak between Trump and Lee who had just been elected.
But Japan reached an agreement with the United States faster than expected, spurring South Korea into a struggle for Pacts that focused on trade, leaving security and investment issues for the upcoming Summit, said President Kim Yong-Beom.
The uncertain cloud plans $ 350 billion in the funds said by Trump, South Korea will invest in the United States in the projects “owned and controlled by the United States” and chosen by it, even though it gives some details of the structure or time of the plan.
Allies face the challenges in completing the details of the funds in the future talks, South Korean Minister of Finance Koo Yun-Cheol told reporters on Friday.
“People say the devil is in detail,” he added.
In a social media post, Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick gave a guarantee “90% of the profits given to the American people”, while the White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said the part would go to the US government to help pay debts.
But Kim, the president’s advisor, said both parties did not discuss the distribution of profits during the talks, and South Korea hoped that the profit would be “investing again” in the United States.
‘Political Rhetoric’
The idea of the United States has the potential to take most of the benefits of “difficult to understand in a civilized country”, he added, while refusing as a claim of Washington’s “Political Rhetoric” that will make all decisions about the funds.
South Korea has added a safety mechanism to reduce the risk of financing, including US commitment to buy products from the project, under the “attacker” clause and invest in commercially proper projects, he said.
Official Seoul said $ 150 billion would go to the shipbuilding industry, with the rest allocated for areas such as chips, batteries, critical minerals, biotechnology, nuclear power, and other strategic industries.
Specific of the structure has not been determined, said Kim, added that loans and guarantees form most of the funds, with equity investment contributing a small portion.
Leavitt said South Korea would provide “Historical Market Access to American goods such as cars and rice,” echoing previous comments by Trump.
But South Korea said that there was no agreement on the agricultural market, including beef and rice, although there was strong pressure from Washington.
Trump expressed his interest in the Korean quarantine process for fruits and vegetables, said Seoul, improvements that would be a figure in a planned technical talks about non-tariff obstacles that would also include vehicle safety rules, but did not provide details.
Other non-tariff barriers such as large technology regulations can be obstacles.
“We cannot feel relieved because we don’t know when we will face pressure from non-tariffs or non-tariff steps anymore,” said Trade Minister Yeo Han-Koo last week when returning from Washington.
Defense costs are expected to arise as a major problem during the upcoming Summit, with Trump has long said that South Korea needs to pay more for the presence of US troops there.
In addition to $ 350 billion, Trump said South Korea agreed to invest a large amount of money in the United States, which will be announced during the Summit, which he said on July 30 will be held within two weeks.
The allies hold the talks for work levels on currency policy, place the agenda at the April trading discussion round.
Source: Reuters
