washingtonpost.com

U.S. presses Korea to improve agricultural offer in trade talks.

By Doug Palmer

Reuters

Monday, September 11, 2006, 3:08 PM

Washington(Reuters)-South Korea needs to make a much better offer to open up its agricultural sector to U.S, imports in trade talks aimed at reaching a free trade agreement by the end of the year, a U.S. trade official said on Monday.

" Korea's agricultural offer, in our view, is disappointing," Wendy Cutlrer, chief U.S. negotiator in the trade talks with Korea, told reporters in a briefing on the third round of negotiations last week in Seattle.

The United States and Korea began negotiations in June on the so-called KORUS trade agreement and set a goal of reaching a final deal by the end of the year.

U.S, demands for Seoul to phase out high tarrifs on rice and other agricultural goods have been expected to be one of the more difficult areas of the talks.

Without giving specific details on Seoul's farm trade offer, Cutler said South Korea wass trying to protect " a lot of sensitive products" from substantial market openings.

"(We're) hoping we can work constructively with them in this sector, recognizing their sensitives and also recognizing that we need to conclude a comprehensive FTA(free trade agreement),"Cutler said.

Negotiators made less progress in Seattle than the United States had wanted, but Washington hopes Seoul will be ready to make better offer to open its agricultural and manufactured goods markets by the time the two sides hold their fourth round of the week of October 23 in South Korea, Cutler said.

The two side had good discussions last week on automotive and pharmaceutical issues --two other sensitive sectors where the United States is pushing hard for market openings --but there were no breakthroughs, she said.

The proposed pact will be on the agenda when President Bush hosts South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday at the White House, Cutler said.

The two leaders could reaffirm the goal of finishing the agreement by the end of the year, but are unlikely to get into the nitty-gritty of the talks, said Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics.

The slow progress last week in Seattle is more evidence that an agreement might not be reached until at least early 2007, Schott said.

'The Koreans face some challenges in garnering domestic political support for a comprehensive agreement' covering sensitive agricultural and other sectors, Schott said..."That is obviously a factor constraining Korean negotiators."