U.S., South Korea to Launch Trade Talks

The United States and South Korea begin free-trade talks this week that could put relations to the test as negotiators grapple with tough issues such as autos, agriculture and relations with North Korea.

The pact has been billed as the biggest U.S. free-trade deal since the North American Free Tree Agreement and the most important development in U.S.-South Korean relations since the two countries signed their military alliance in 1953.

The talks have also spawned fears of job losses in vulnerable industries on both sides of the Pacific.

Negotiators want to reach a deal by the end of this year so Congress can vote on it before the White House authority to negotiate trade agreements that cannot be amended expires in mid-2007.

South Korea is the world’s 10th-largest economy and the United States’ seventh-largest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling about $72 billion last year. But South Korea has a much more protected market than the United States.

South Korean tariffs for industrial and consumer goods average 11.2%, compared with 3.7% in the U.S. The difference is even greater in the farm sector, where South Korean tariffs average 52%, more than four times the U.S. level of 12%. The pact would eliminate duties on both sides for bilateral trade.