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Korea will propose lifting tariffs on most European manufactured goods within seven years after a free trade agreement with the EU goes into effect. Seoul is to make the proposal in the third round of free trade talks between the two sides, which will open in Belgium on Sept. 17. A senior government official said Sunday the government on Friday delivered a revised concession proposal that advances the timing of tariff removal and increases the number of goods subject to market opening. The concession list on manufactured goods is almost the final version, he added.
The EU demanded in the second round of trade talks in July that Korea revise its proposal on manufactured goods, which it felt did not open markets to a satisfactory degree because it would have kept tariffs on some products for up to 10 years. In the second round, the EU proposed lifting tariffs on 80 percent of imports from Korea within three years, but Korea was only willing to scrap tariffs on 60 percent of European goods.
The Korean government will not immediately accept the EU’s demand for the removal of tariffs on European cars within three years but use the issue as a bargaining chip instead. The Korean government also offered a proposal on the detailed timing for lifting tariffs on most agricultural, livestock and fisheries products, with the timetable for only a handful of products undecided.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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