Alla vigilia di un accordo commerciale, Seoul si attende pesce e auto meno care
– L’accordo di libero scambio Usa-Sud Corea, siglato il 14.03.2012 dopo 1 anno di negoziati (2006-2007) e 4 di schermaglie politiche per il suo completamento (le società automobilistiche e i sindacati premevano perché venisse ritardata l’eliminazione dei dazi ai veicoli sudcoreani).
– da subito vengono eliminati circa l’80%, e entro 5 anni il 95% delle tariffe doganali.
– È il maggiore, per valore di merci toccate, siglato dagli Usa dopo il NAFTA con Canada e Messico a metà anni Novanta;
o Avendo il commercio un peso maggiore in Sud Corea, l’accordo avrà per esso conseguenze maggiori che non per gli Usa.
o Il Sud Corea aveva mantenuto tariffe alte per proteggere la sua ascesa economica, dalla povertà degli anni Sessanta al benessere attuale.
o Si prevede che l’accordo contribuisca ad un aumento della crescita coreana del 10% in valore, entro 5 anni.
o Ridurrà probabilmente il surplus commerciale del Sud Corea (dato le tariffe di importazione generalmente superiori) rispetto agli Usa, pari $13,1MD nel 2011.
– L’accordo riguarda quasi tutti gli aspetti delle relazioni commerciali tra i due paesi; il loro interscambio nel 2011 assommò a poco più di $100MD.
-Gli Usa sono il 4° partner commerciale del Sud Corea, quest’ultimo è l’8° maggior partner commerciale degli Usa.
– Su richiesta sudcoreana dall’accordo è stato escluso il riso, per compiacere le lobby dei produttori agricoli.
– Qualche es.: il dazio sull’importazione di pesce dagli Usa scende dal 10% a 0; quella sulle auto dall’8% al 4%. A questa modifica non si è opposto il maggior gruppo auto coreano (Hyundai Motor Group), mentre è stato criticato dai politici liberali, che hanno promesso che cercheranno di modificarlo.
Uno dei segni di cambiamento più visibili è quello nell’industria legale del Sud Corea, finora chiusa alle società legali americane, che ora possono aprire loro uffici in Sud Corea per lavorare su contratti e dispute internazionali.
On Eve of Trade Deal, Seoul Awaits Cheaper Fish, Cars
– SEOUL—South Korea and the U.S. on Thursday will eliminate duties on thousands of goods as they implement a free-trade agreement that took one year to negotiate and an additional four years of political battling to complete.
– The deal is the largest trade pact, by value of traded goods, the U.S. has completed since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in the mid-1990s. But it is likely to have a far larger effect on South Korea than on the U.S.
– Trade plays a greater role in the South Korean economy and import tariffs have been kept high to protect its rapid ascent from poverty in the 1960s to affluence today.
– About 80% of the existing tariffs between the two countries will be eliminated Thursday. The agreement calls for 95% of tariffs to be wiped out within five years.
South Korean nuns rallying Wednesday against the free-trade pact with the U.S. that takes effect Thursday.
– The country’s customs service since last week has been training extra personnel to handle an influx of goods at seaports and airports. In Busan, South Korea’s second-largest port city, several warehouses in a customs holding area were filled with frozen fish from the U.S., ready for official entry Thursday when a 10% tariff drops to zero.
– Bori Inc. had about 100 tons of frozen flatfish ready to go through customs on Thursday morning, a manager at the company said. "Another 10 companies are doing the same thing," the manager added. "I would guess there’s about 2,000 tons ready to enter."
– Auto dealers who drew down inventory over the past few weeks expected deliveries to resume Thursday or Friday. South Korea’s 8% tariff on U.S. autos will be cut to 4% with the implementation of the deal.
– "There’s a big difference between a car coming in today and one that comes in tomorrow, about $1,000 to $2,000 depending on the model," Edward Chung, president of Rex Motors, which owns Chrysler-Jeep dealerships in South Korea, said Wednesday. "So there are a lot of cars waiting to come through customs."
– The agreement covers nearly every facet of the U.S.-South Korea trade relationship, which amounted to just over $100 billion in a two-way exchange of goods last year.
– The U.S. is South Korea’s fourth-largest trading partner, while South Korea is the eighth-largest trading partner for the U.S. One major agricultural product was left out—rice—at the request of the South Koreans, in response to lobbying by farmers.
– One of the most visible signs of a change is in South Korea’s legal industry, which has been closed to U.S. law firms. Under the deal, U.S. firms can immediately set up shop in South Korea to work on international contracts and disputes. In five years, they can also be hired for South Korean legal work.
– In a breakfast presentation to a business audience Wednesday in Seoul, Laurie Lebrun, an executive from the legal recruitment firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, presented a list of about a dozen U.S. law firms planning to open offices in South Korea. The list, she said, had been updated just an hour earlier to include several firms that announced plans for Korea on Tuesday.
– The pact is generally expected to contribute to faster growth in trade, with some analysts expecting it to account for as much as a 10% increase, as measured by value, within five years.
– Because South Korea’s import tariffs were generally higher than the U.S.’s, the effect of the deal will likely be to reduce South Korea’s surplus in trade with the U.S., which amounted to $13.1 billion last year, but not eliminate it completely.
The U.S. runs a surplus in services traded with South Korea.
– The two countries negotiated the pact from June 2006 to April 2007, when the U.S. was led by the conservative administration of George W. Bush and South Korea had a liberal president, Roh Moo-hyun. Ratification of the pact became bogged down by politics, mainly in the U.S., where auto companies and labor pressed the administration of Barack Obama not to drop barriers on South Korean vehicles as quickly as the deal prescribed.
– In late 2010, the two countries agreed to a modification that had the main effect of stretching out the time for the elimination of vehicle tariffs in both directions. The U.S. Congress and South Korea’s National Assembly then ratified the pact late last year.
– South Korea’s biggest auto manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Group, maker of Hyundai and Kia brands, didn’t object to the change in auto tariffs. But liberal politicians called it unfair and, heading into an election next month, have said they would try to modify or scrap the FTA if they win control of Parliament.
South Korea’s ruling conservative party and government officials have criticized the threat. Such a move "would hurt bilateral relations and undermine Korea’s international credibility," Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho said this week.
– The controversy hasn’t diminished American interest in doing business in South Korea. Trade delegations involving governors or lieutenant governors from 22 states are making plans to visit South Korea this year, said Amy Jackson, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Seoul.
"We’ve had a lot of inquiries from American companies who are interested in coming in," Ms. Jackson said. "That’s all because this agreement is finally under way."