USTR Urges South Koreans to Reform Customs Requirements, Offers Assistance
The U.S. continues to pressure South Korea to dismantle non-tariff barriers on U.S. auto exports to the country under the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA), while pressing South Korean officials to reform customs provisions that currently require U.S. exporters to produce excessive, trade-inhibiting documentation, said Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Wendy Cutler during a conference call with reporters on March 13. USTR has invited U.S. customs officials to work with their South Korean counterparts to reshape the South Korean customs program designed to verify rules of origin, said Cutler.
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“We also have some concerns with respect to how the Korean customs service verifies origin certificates. And that’s a very technical issue, but an issue of key importance that we are continuing to engage on with Korea at all levels of our government,” said Cutler. “The customs origin issue is one where we made it clear to them we need to find a solution there to make sure that those provisions, for example, are implemented according to the FTA and not in an excessive or trade restrictive manner.” The documentation requirements have negatively impacted U.S. manufacturing and agricultural sectors in particular, said Cutler.
Despite some areas of poor implementation along with a sluggish South Korean economy, the bilateral FTA is fueling export increases in U.S. transportation, autos, electrical supplies, and agricultural products such as beef, in addition to other sectors. Critics of the agreement point to the historic record of a $20.673 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea and tens of thousands of lost jobs (see 14031314). -- Brian Dabbs