WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI) issued the following statement today in response to the announcement of an agreement on critical changes to the pending trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea:
“The changes announced to the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) today are a dramatic step toward changing from a one-way street to a two-way street for trade between the U.S. and South Korea. These changes represent an important opportunity to break open the Korean market for U.S. businesses and workers and boost American manufacturing jobs, particularly in the automotive sector.
“For decades South Korea has employed a unique and ever changing regulatory regime to discriminate against auto imports while the U.S. market has been totally open to their goods. As a result, U.S. automakers exported less than 6,000 cars to South Korea in 2009 while South Korea has used its historically closed market to finance an aggressive push into the U.S. market, exporting 476,000 cars to the U.S. in 2009. The imbalance is so severe that automotive trade accounts for a full three-quarters of the $10.6 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea.
“Today’s agreement delays the elimination of the U.S. tariff on South Korean auto exports for five years, unlike the 2007 FTA, which would have eliminated duties on Korean car exports immediately. This development provides leverage to assure that Korea opens its market and provides time for our industry to root itself in the Korean marketplace. Today’s changes will also tear down South Korea’s wall of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), including their improper use of tax rules and discriminatory safety and emissions standards that have shut U.S. automakers out of their market. The changes also include, for the first time ever, an auto-specific safeguard that will protect U.S. manufacturers from a harmful surge of South Korean imports in the future. Most importantly, today’s changes are fully enforceable.
“The FTA also includes robust labor and environmental commitments that are fully enforceable that were agreed to in May 2007. Going forward, the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations provide an opportunity to continue working on other provisions within the framework of trade agreements.
“The changes announced today resulted from the Administration, domestic automotive industry, the United Auto Workers and a key, bipartisan Congressional group standing up for American manufacturing. This was the only way to reverse the historic, lopsided pattern of one-way trade with South Korea. I support today’s agreement. It is important for American manufacturing and American jobs. It is also an important step toward a global rules-based trade system."
