[CTC] Common sense direction on trade

[Daphne Loring]

Stephen Biegun, Ford's vice president of international governmental affairs
says the Korea FTA, as it now stands, "isn't sufficient to break down the
barriers that the Koreans have put in place."  The ratio of auto exports
last year between S. Korea and the U.S. is about 700,000 to 7000, or 1 to
1000.

 

U.S. to seek better Korea Free Trade deal for Detroit's Big 3

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

July 26, 2010

 

Washington -- The Obama administration's top trade official vowed to seek
changes in the Korea Free Trade agreement to help automakers. 

 

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters Monday that the
administration is committed to winning changes to ensure that more U.S.
autos are sold in Korea. 

 

Kirk spoke on the sidelines of an event in Washington where he helped unveil
the new 2011 Ford Explorer. Ford has been very critical of the trade
agreement for not doing more to open the Korean market to U.S. exports. 

 

"We can't accept -- and I am not going to ask (automakers) to accept ... the
inability to just go in and compete and let the Korean consumer decide just
like the American consumer does." 

 

Kirk met in Detroit this year with automakers, Gov. Jennifer Granholm,
members of the United Auto Workers union and members of Congress to discuss
the long-stalled Korea Free Trade agreement. 

 

This month, President Barack Obama named Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally
to his export council. 

 

"We're looking for a formula that can open the Korean market to the export
of U.S. automobiles," said Stephen Biegun, Ford's vice president of
international governmental affairs. 

 

The agreement, as it now stands, "isn't sufficient to break down the
barriers that the Koreans have put in place." 

 

The agreement must have a process with "enforcement" and "transparency,"
Biegun said. 

 

In April 2007, the Bush administration signed a free trade agreement with
Korea, but it stalled in the United States, primarily over concerns about
U.S. beef and auto exports. 

 

Korea's largest company, Hyundai, holds an 80 percent market share. 

 

Obama, at the G-20 summit in Canada last month, said his administration will
launch new talks with South Korea aimed at resolving those differences
before he goes there in November; he wants to submit an agreement to
Congress soon thereafter. 

 

Ford has dubbed Korea one of the most "closed markets in the world to
automotive imports." 

 

Most U.S. automakers have opposed the agreement negotiated under the Bush
administration because it did little to open the closed auto market. 

 

General Motors Co. has stayed neutral, because of its South Korean unit GM
Daewoo, which is the fourth-largest automaker there. 

 

Korean automakers sell 700,000 vehicles annually here, but U.S. automakers
export fewer than 7,000 vehicles annually in Korea. In total, foreign
imports account for just 5 percent of total sales in Korea. 

 

The White House says the new deal likely will be sent to Congress early next
year. 

 

Obama says a new pact will strengthen ties between the two countries, and
may boost the export of American goods by as much as $11 billion a year. 

 

dshepardson at detnews.com (202) 662-8735 

 

>From The Detroit News:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100726/UPDATE/7260407/1361/U.S.-to-seek-bet
ter-Korea-Free-Trade-deal-for-Detroit-s-Big-3#ixzz0utcc8jxz 

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