Seoul, Beijing Agree on 90% Trade Liberalization on a Temporary Basis

South Korea and China have reached an agreement on liberalizing or lifting import tariffs on 90percent of all imports during their recent negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). At the seventh round of free trade negotiations in Weifang, Shandong Province in China from September 3-5, the two parties agreed to liberalize or remove import tariffs on 90 percent of all products in terms of the number of products and 85 percent of all imports in terms of their value. Woo Tae-hee, Seoul’s chief negotiator for the FTA, said, “Seoul and Beijing agreed on the modality for the FTA, wrapping up the first-phase negotiations for the FTA,” adding “the level of liberalization could be upped in the fallout of further negotiations.”
As they have tentatively agreed on the liberalization rate of 90 percent in the products sector, 1,200 products or 10 percent of the total 12,000 products subject to negotiations will fall into the ‘super-sensitive’ category immune from liberalization. Accordingly, the government will likely face growing calls from those engaging in the manufacturing industry including agro-fisheries, auto, textile and non-ferrous metal that their products should belong to the category, ahead of second round of negotiations slated for late this year, which will deal with specific products. Besides, the two countries decided to cover the issue of ‘offshore processing zone’ during the coming second-phase negotiations. Namely, they would explore a way of acknowledging products rolled out from Kaesong Industrial Complex of North Korea as South Korea made ones to export them directly to China.

By Kim Min-su : Here