<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-trade-representative-looks-for-successful-discussions-with-south-korea-1504651557" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-trade-representative-looks-for-successful-discussions-with-south-korea-1504651557</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 3pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="font-size: 30pt;" class="">U.S. Trade Representative Looks for ‘Successful’ Discussions With South Korea<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1><h2 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); letter-spacing: -0.1pt; font-weight: normal;" class="">Chief trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer speaks of amending, not ending, bilateral free-trade agreement<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h2><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><i class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;" class="">By</span></i><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""> </span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><i class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;" class="">Jacob M. Schlesinger</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""> and</span></i><i class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span class="name"><i class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 195); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;" class="">William Mauldin</span></i></span><i class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Updated Sept. 5, 2017 8:25 p.m. ET<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The Trump administration’s chief trade negotiator said Tuesday that he is looking to negotiate some changes to the Korea-U.S. free-trade agreement and that he is hoping for a “successful discussion” with the South Koreans—avoiding any mention of a possible termination of the five-year-old pact.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The remarks by Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, were the first public comments by a top policy maker about the trade agreement, known as Korus, since administration officials said over the weekend that President Donald Trump was seriously <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-weighs-withdrawal-from-south-korea-trade-pact-1504375312" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 195);" class="">considering terminating the pact</span></a>, and would discuss the matter with advisers this week.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">When asked the administration’s views on possible Korus withdrawal, Mr. Lighthizer said that “we have negotiations,” and that “we would like some amendments to the Korean agreement.” But he didn’t address directly the prospect of a pullout. Mr. Lighthizer made the comments to reporters after concluding two days of meetings in Mexico City with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts over<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-canada-mexico-make-minor-progress-on-nafta-talks-1504644974" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 195);" class=""> renegotiating a separate commercial bloc</span></a> that Mr. Trump has threatened to end, the North American Free Trade Agreement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""> </span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">It is unclear whether Mr. Trump is still weighing the Korus withdrawal option. His aides had floated the prospect Saturday morning, hours before North Korea conducted its largest nuclear test, raising questions from policy makers and experts across the political spectrum about the wisdom of picking a trade fight with Seoul at a time when Washington needed to craft a consensus strategy with its close military ally to confront Pyongyang.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized the Korean agreement, complaining in particular about the doubling of the U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea since 2011, the year before the pact took effect, to $27.6 billion last year. Mr. Trump and some aides argue that a trade deficit can inherently be evidence of an unfair trade deal, an argument most economists call inaccurate and misleading.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The internal White House discussion about terminating Korus threatens to fray further Mr. Trump’s already-tense relationship with Republicans in Congress, and with big business groups normally on friendly terms with Republican administrations.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Lawmakers were so alarmed by the weekend reports about the trade pact that, in a rare bipartisan move, the two top trade Republicans on Capitol Hill— Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas—joined Tuesday with their Democratic counterparts to issue a statement urging Mr. Trump to back down.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">“North Korea’s latest nuclear test underscores yet again the vital importance of the strong alliance,” the statement said. While acknowledging some “frustrations” and the need to “improve” the pact, the four lawmakers wrote that “to be effective and constructive, however, we must not withdraw from the agreement while we do so.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst wrote her own letter to Mr. Trump “to express my strong concern” about the pact’s possible abrogation, saying that it “has been particularly favorable for American agriculture.” Korus has given American farmers better access to that long-closed market.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Big business groups have also rallied in recent days to try to snuff out Mr. Trump’s threat, just as they did in April when he was weighing a Nafta pullout. A Korus termination “would damage White House relations with allies in the business and agriculture communities and in Congress, greatly complicating other initiatives such as tax reform,” Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">“It’s difficult to imagine a move that would bring more self-harm to our economy and national security, with no benefit in return, than withdrawing from Korus,” Mr. Donohue concluded. “We urge the administration not to make this rash and irresponsible move.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 21pt; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;" class="">Write to </span></strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Jacob M. Schlesinger at <a href="mailto:jacob.schlesinger@wsj.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 195);" class="">jacob.schlesinger@wsj.com</span></a> and William Mauldin at <a href="mailto:william.mauldin@wsj.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 195);" class="">william.mauldin@wsj.com</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p class="printheadline" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 16.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><i class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Appeared in the September 6, 2017, print edition as 'Washington Seeks Further Negotiations On Trade With Seoul.'</span></i></p><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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