The Office of the United States Trade Representative

United States -Korea FTA Text Available on USTR Website
05/24/2007
 

 

Washington DC – The United States and Korea have simultaneously released the full draft text of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (“KORUS FTA”).  Negotiations on the agreement were completed on April 1.  U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab issued the following statement:

“As we have underscored since we completed negotiations on the Agreement, the KORUS FTA is a strong, comprehensive deal that will bring concrete benefits to U.S. manufacturers, services providers, farmers, ranchers, and workers, as well as the people of Korea.  The text lays out the details of this historic Agreement between two large countries with complex, modern economies,” said Ambassador Schwab.  “The agreement will advance U.S. efforts to deepen and strengthen its trade and investment ties in a strategically significant part of the world.”

The Agreement contains 24 chapters, which provide for significant reductions in tariffs on industrial and agriculture products, and include state-of-the-art commitments in competition policy, e- commerce, transparency, pharmaceuticals/medical devices, intellectual property rights (IPR), investment, and services.  The Agreement also includes an unprecedented and strong package of automotive provisions, which will level the playing field in this important sector.  The automotive provisions are found throughout the text, including in the chapters on market access and national treatment for goods, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement. 

This draft text does not yet include provisions that reflect the recently-concluded agreement between Congress and the Administration on labor rights, environmental safeguards and other issues that have created a new, bipartisan path forward on trade.   The Administration and Congress are still in the process of converting this agreement into formal text.  When that process is complete, the United States looks forward to working together with Korea to reflect that agreement. 

The draft KORUS FTA text is available on the USTR website at http://www.ustr.gov/.  As is the case with all FTAs, the draft text is subject to legal review for accuracy, clarity, and consistency. 

The following fact sheets are also available:

Sumary of the agreement

Economic and Strategic Benefits

Summary of auto provisions

Summary of agricultural provisions

Statements of Support for KORUS FTA