Comprehensive Asia-Pacific Trade Plan Needed, Analyst Tells Lawmakers; Pascrell Defends KORUS
The Trump administration should start working now to articulate a comprehensive Asia-Pacific strategy, including trade, ahead of his scheduled visit Nov. 3-14, to Japan, South Korea, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, Center for Strategic and International Studies William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy Matthew Goodman said in testimony to the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Oct. 11. Goodman suggested that progressing toward bilateral free trade agreements would help the U.S. promote certainty regarding its commercial relationships with Asian nations. He also indicated support for an administration agenda that addresses South Korean, Taiwanese and Thai intervention in foreign exchange markets to devalue their currencies relative to the dollar, with those countries “often skirting just around the criteria for designation as a currency manipulator by the U.S. Treasury Department.”
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While witnesses for the subcommittee’s Asia-Pacific trade hearing, including Kelley Sullivan, speaking on behalf of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, voiced support for opening Asian markets, subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., voiced support for maintaining the U.S.’s trade relationship with South Korea upheld through the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. “Let’s not do something drastic by blowing up the agreement and creating chaos,” Pascrell said in his opening statement. “That serves no one.” He noted, however, that KORUS “could work better” for U.S. companies seeking market access, particularly auto companies, and that the deal contains “troublesome” investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms that “favor powerful corporations.”
Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said in his opening statement that the best way to resolve U.S. issues with KORUS is to use its “committee structure,” noting “Korea needs to do much more.” U.S. and South Korean officials held their second meeting under that structure to address U.S. concerns about KORUS on Oct. 4 (see 1710060012). Reichert also encouraged the administration to negotiate more FTAs with Asian countries, noting that it has trade deals with just three countries -- South Korea, Singapore and Australia -- in the region. “When we have a trade agreement in place, we can work to enforce the agreement and push our trading partner to live up to its side of the bargain,” Reichert said. “But our limited number of trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region greatly reduces our leverage relative to competitors in other countries that have been more aggressive in negotiating trade agreements.”
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Pascrell’s statement.