South Korea Seeks to Avert Trump Criticism of Free Trade Pact
- Trump had criticized Korea FTA as destroyer of U.S. jobs
- U.S. trade accord with Korea was biggest since NAFTA in 1994
Joo Hyung-hwan.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
South Korea’s trade minister said his country will seek to explain the benefits of its free-trade agreement with the U.S. to the Trump administration, as the pact enacted in 2012 comes under fresh scrutiny.
U.S. President Donald Trump has already ditched a broader Pacific pact that was not yet ratified by Congress and chided South Korea’s neighbors Japan and China for their trade policies, raising concern its agreement could come into his cross-hairs. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is meeting Trump in the U.S. later this week in part to defuse tensions over trade.