U.S. Considers Automobile Trades Condition Seriously Unfavorable

The United States Ambassador to Korea Thomas Hubbard mentioned yesterday that there is a deepened trade imbalance, especially in the automobile industry, between the two countries. He said, “It is important to facilitate fair trading conditions in a variety of sectors, including the automobile industry.”

The U.S. Ambassador’s speech was made in a luncheon meeting co-hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), which was held at the FKI building.

Ambassador Hubbard asserted, “Although there has been a big progress during the past year, Korea still lacks transparency in the economic sector, and there are concerns by foreigners on the issues such as establishing technology standards, distributions of pharmaceuticals, telecommunication industries, and protection of intellectual property rights.”

The U.S. Ambassador, however, expressed that he will make efforts to well conclude the pending trading issues, including automobile exports and imports, screen quota system, pharmaceuticals, technology standards, and so on. Ambassador Hubbard also said that many U.S. small and middle industries were developing innovative products and services, and therefore, he would provide favorable conditions for their doing business in Korea and encourage the companies to invest or export to Korea without any barriers.

Hubbard also said that screen quota issue is an obstacle to the negotiation on Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). “The U.S. position is to agree on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) after resolving the screen quota matters and concluding the BIT,” said the Ambassador, emphasizing on the plan of “concluding BIT first.”

Concerning the U.S. policy on North Korea, Ambassador Hubbard said that the U.S. is focusing on revitalizing six-way talks. He forecasted that the six-way talks would likely reopen some day this year, although it was still uncertain if the North underwent the measures (a total disposition of nuclear development plan) that it should follow.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com