Korea and the U.S. on Tuesday agreed on a crucial exemption in their planned free trade agreement that will prevent Japanese car assemblers in the U.S. from benefiting from the FTA by proxy. On the second day of FTA talks in Seoul, the two sides decided that tariffs will only be cut for cars made using over a certain percentage of parts produced in Korea or the U.S., a member of the Korean side said.
Korea¡¯s chief negotiator in free trade talks with the U.S. Kim Jong-hoon takes questions from reporters at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on Tuesday, the second day of a fresh round of negotiations.
They also cleared up another point of contention by agreeing that U.S financial institutions will face individual reviews from both countries before they can sell their newly developed financial products here. Kim Jong-hoon, who heads the Korean delegation, told reporters the two countries share the view that financial authorities should approve any new financial products imported from the other party one by one.
