Scrapping the U. S.-South Korean trade agreement would be a rash mistake, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday, ahead of a first meeting this week between U. S. President Donald Trump and new South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
In an interview with Reuters in April, Trump called the five-year-old KORUS trade pact “horrible” and “unacceptable” and said he would either renegotiate or terminate it.
U. S. Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Myron Brilliant said U. S. exports to South Korea had not risen as much as expected and the U. S. trade deficit had grown, but these we not reasons to end the agreement.
“Such a rash move would be a mistake, ” Brilliant said in an op-ed article published on Tuesday, a day before Moon is due in Washington. Moon will speak at the chamber on Wednesday evening.
Brilliant said services exports to South Korea had jumped 25 percent to more than $21 billion annually, while merchandise trade numbers were also “moving in the right direction.”
With more South Korean tariffs set for elimination over the next few years, U. S. exports would be even more competitive.
In addition, Brilliant wrote, KORUS put American exporters on a level playing field against competitors from Europe, China and Australia, which also have free trade agreements with Seoul.
