The US and South Korea broke through a three-year deadlock on Friday to seal a sweeping free-trade agreement (FTA), which US President Barack Obama hoped would renew US leadership in Asia.
The agreement lifts tariffs on 95 percent of goods between the countries within five years, in what would be the largest US trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in 1994.
After nearly four days of talks in suburban Washington, negotiators cleared a key hurdle by letting the US move more slowly on lifting duties on South Korean cars after US carmakers feared a flood of imports.
The deal still needs ratification by the two countries’ legislatures. Obama won early support from a labor-backed congressman and the Ford Motor Co, former staunch opponents of the deal.
As a senator, Obama was a critic of the deal first negotiated in 2007 under then-US president George W. Bush. But on Friday, Obama said his team reached “the best deal for American workers and corporations,” saying it would create 70,000 US jobs through new exports — an estimate disputed by critics.
“It deepens the strong alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea and reinforces American leadership in the Asia Pacific,” Obama said in a statement.
In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the agreement would bring “huge benefit” to South Korea, which has embraced free trade deals as a strategy to promote an economy long in the shadow of economic giants Japan and China.
“When the FTA takes effect, South Korea will be the first country in the world that will have signed free trade deals with the United States, the EU and ASEAN and India,” he added.
Under the renegotiated agreement, the US will be allowed to keep its 2.5 percent tariff for five years, while South Korea would immediately cut its tariff in half to 4 percent. Both sides would eliminate tariffs after five years.
US officials said Seoul would also ease car safety and environmental standards that US automakers contend are a thinly disguised way to stifle foreign competitors through arbitrary requirements.
The revised agreement would let each US automaker export 25,000 cars per year that meet only US safety requirements — four times the current level.
Mitch McConnell, the top Republican senator, and Representative Sandy Levin, a Democrat from the auto manufacturing state of Michigan who is often critical of free trade deals, came out in support of the new agreement.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
RSS