Korea has no plans to discuss the issue of its restrictions on U.S. beef imports before Congress votes on the pending U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, according to the Korean Ambassador to the United States , Han Duk-Soo.
"The additional negotiation is done. There will be no further negotiations concerning the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement. It's done now," Han said at a meeting of the National Foreign Trade Council when asked whether there would be additional negotiations on Korean rules restricting imports of U.S. beef to that from cattle younger than 30 months.
Han said the age restrictions on U.S. imports had no relationship to the U.S.-Korea FTA, but that the 40 percent tariff on U.S. beef exports to Korea were within the scope of the FTA.
Han would not say when the trade ministers might sign the finalized legal texts, which were completed this past week. He said it depended on translation of the text into Korean. Han noted that 95 percent of U.S. beef exports were permitted to enter the Korean market under a voluntary agreement negotiated under the Bush administration in 2008. U.S. beef exports to Korea are rising rapidly, and that the 40 percent Korean tariff on beef exports will disappear for the U.S. beef exporters.
On the U.S. side Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) continues to have a problem with the pending agreement. Baucus, whose committee oversees tax and trade issues, has pledged to oppose the FTA until South Korea reconsiders restrictions on the many U.S. beef exports it has barred. Baucus's stand presents a major obstacle to the White House and Republicans who are eager to bring the long-delayed pact to the Senate floor.
