Korea-US FTA in unprecedented jeopardy

Lee Han-soo – The Korea Times

Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. President is expected to put the free trade pact between South Korean and the U.S. in grave jeopardy.

Trump has repeatedly blasted the deal as “catastrophic” and “unfair” to the U.S.

“Hillary rammed through the job-killing trade deal with South Korea in 2011,” Trump said during a campaign stop in Ashburn, Virginia, on Aug 2. “That South Korean deal is a disaster for us.”

Trump also said South Korea was laughing at the U.S. over the FTA.

“Hillary’s Korea deal, South Korea, cost us another 100,000 jobs,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Nevada on Oct. 5. “Remember that? It was supposed to be a good deal. It cost us jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs. And South Korea, like almost every other country, is laughing at how stupid we are.”

Trump also claimed that the deal destroyed the auto industry.

“Hillary Clinton supported and lobbied for the South Korea trade agreement, you know that one, that’s been another disaster, on the promise of 75,000 new jobs,” Trump said during a rally in Ohio, one of the “rust belt” regions with declining economies, on Oct. 27. “Instead, her trade deal destroyed 100,000 jobs, mostly in the auto industry.”

Trump is expected to seek renegotiation of the Korea trade deal if he is elected to the White House. Though he has not directly mentioned such a possibility, aides have long said the real-estate businessman wants to reevaluate, or go back to “ground-zero,” on free trade agreements.

The painstakingly negotiated Korea-U.S. FTA has been in effect since 2012 and has widely been considered a symbol of the economic alliance between the two countries. Attempts to revise or renegotiate the agreement could set off diplomatic tensions.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a report in late June that the Korea deal has been good for American interests, saying the agreement is estimated to have improved bilateral merchandise trade balances by $15.8 billion last year.