ÿþ<html> <head> <title> United States, South Korea Conclude Free-Trade Agreement </title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=EUC-KR"> <meta name="KEYWORDS" lang="en-us" content="USTR, KORUS FTA"> <meta name="KEYWORDS" lang="kr" content="USTR, KORUS FTA"> <meta name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000EE" vlink="#551A8B" alink="#FF0000"> <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 WIDTH="588" align=center > <tr> <td WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="11"><img SRC="wwwgztop.gif" height=30 width=588> <img SRC="http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/img/assets/3602/WashingtonFile.gif" alt="Washington File"> <p> <font size=-1> <!-- BEGIN DATA BUFFER --> <p>02 April 2007</p> <h3>United States, South Korea Conclude Free-Trade Agreement</h3> <p class="subhead">Bush submits pact to Congress for up or down vote, without amendment</p> <p class="byline">By Kathryn McConnell<br/>USINFO Staff Writer<br/><br/> </p> <p>Washington -- The United States has concluded a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea, making it the latest such agreement reached under the president's trade-promotion authority (TPA), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced April 2. </p> <p>The agreement was concluded April 1, the last day TPA allows the president to submit free-trade agreements to Congress for an up or down vote, without amendments. Congress will have 90 days to consider the agreement before trade-promotion authority expires on June 30.</p> <p>With the pending expiration of TPA, also called fast-track authority, the United States does not plan to start any new FTA negotiations, said Sean McCormack, state department spokesman.</p> <p>Fast-track authority was granted to President Bush in 2001, when the House of Representatives was controlled by Republicans. With Democrats now in control in Congress, renewal of TPA is uncertain.</p> <p>The Korea FTA is the &quot;most commercially significant&quot; free-trade agreement the United States has reached in more than 10 years, or since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to a USTR press release.</p> <p>The negotiations that led to the U.S.-Korea FTA demonstrate &quot;that two countries with large, complex and dynamic economies, and a tradition of robust public involvement can work through challenges and craft a high-quality free trade agreement,&quot; said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia.</p> <p>South Korea is the world's 10th-largest economy and the United States' seventh-largest trading partner. The United States is Korea's third-largest market. Two-way trade in goods between the two countries carried an estimated value of $72 billion in 2006, USTR said.</p> <p>When implemented, the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) would expand trade and investment flows between the two countries across a comprehensive list of economic sectors including agriculture, industrial and consumer products, automobiles and textiles, USTR said.</p> <p>The agreement also would further enhance the U.S.-Korea partnership that has been &quot;a force for stability and prosperity in Asia,&quot; President Bush said in an April 2 statement.</p> <p>U.S. business groups have urged swift adoption of a U.S.-Korea FTA, which had been in negotiations for 10 months.</p> <p>Under the agreement, more than $1 billion worth of U.S. farm exports to Korea would become duty-free immediately and most remaining agricultural tariffs would be phased out over the first 10 years after the agreement is enacted.</p> <p>More than 90 percent of bilateral trade in industrial and consumer goods would become duty-free in three years after enactment with remaining tariffs eliminated within 10 years, USTR said.</p> <p>The agreement would eliminate Korea's engine displacement-based tax system for imported cars. The United States says that system discriminates against U.S.-made autos, which generally are larger than domestically produced Korean cars.</p> <p>The pact also would ensure that U.S. investors in Korea have the same rights as Korean investors and that intellectual property rights (IPR) are protected.</p> <p>It would require both the United States and Korea to enforce their environmental and labor laws and would establish mechanisms for enhancing cooperation in safeguarding labor rights and environmental protections.</p> <p>The full texts of a <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2007/April/United_States_Korea_Conclude_Historic_Trade_Agreement.html">press release</a> announcing the agreement and Bhatia's <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Transcripts/2007/April/asset_upload_file856_11009.pdf">prepared remarks</a> are available on the USTR Web site. Bush's <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070401.html">letter to Congress</a> concerning the agreement is available on the White House Web site.</p> <p>(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)</p> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>