South Korea’s Trade Barrier

I posted a while ago that South Korea had <a href="http://nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/archives/2036-Good-News.html">opened up its market to US beef</a> and how the news made me happy. It turns out I was wrong. While <strong>technically</strong> opening its market to US beef, South Korea has has rejected almost every shipment of beef into its country for one reason or another causing a new furor in the cattle industry,<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01307718.htm" >U.S. meat industry blasts South Korea for beef bar</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>U.S. beef producers and packers excoriated South Korea on Friday for rejecting a second shipment of U.S. beef, accusing Seoul of unjustified stalling just a week before talks on a proposed free trade deal.<br />n<br />n"This reiterates … that the Koreans were never really interested in opening the market," said John Reddington, vice president for trade at the American Meat Institute.<br />n<br />nEarlier on Friday, officials in Seoul said they had rejected a shipment of U.S. beef that contained bone fragments. They acted a week after the first shipment from a U.S. plant since 2003 was rejected for the same reason.<br />n<br />nSeoul's decision to bar imports from two out of three U.S. plants currently exporting to Korea mark a shaky restart for meat trade with the Asian nation. U.S. imports had been banned since the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in 2003.</blockquote><br />n<br />nIt would appear that the only reason the South Korean's opened up their beef market was to drive the free trade talks with the US. They want free trade with the US but don't want to allow free trade into their country by our products so they raise a barrier to our beef that is almost unassailable but still claim that trade is opened up. Convenient isn't it.<br />n<br />nIn a way what is really funny about this situation is that the US and South Korea are holding trade talks in of all places, beef country, Montana <a href="http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200612/kt2006120319561511900.htm">starting Monday</a>. The South Koreans have the idea that their treatment of US beef will not be part of the talks. I think they are going to be unpleasantly surprised about that. If the way they are treating US beef is an indication of how they are going to approach free trade, there will be no free trade with South Korea, only more artificial barriers created by South Korea in an effort to open up US markets for their goods.<br />n<br />nIt will be interesting to see if the US Government will stand up to South Korea on this issue or will they cave to get a free trade agreement signed with South Korea. Only time will tell.<br />n<br />n<strong>Trade can really be good for American workers and American businesses. Richard Neal</strong>