From the Wall Street Journal's "Korearealtime" blog: Another Day for U.S.-Korea Trade Talks.
From a Yonhap report in the JoonAng Daily: FTA talks with U.S. extended, with focus on auto import. This report says the focus of the negotiations remains on autos and that beef hasn't been discussed. The third day is described as a "last-minute" effort, after differences over autos couldn't be resolved on Wednesday:
Emerging from a late evening session with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk at a hotel in Columbia, Maryland, Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon told reporters, “We still have a long road ahead.”
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Talks have been focused on to what extent Seoul will ease safety and environmental standards and delay the elimination of the 2.5 percent tariff on most autos and auto parts, as well as a phaseout of the 25 percent tariff on light trucks.
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“Korean negotiators are continuing to resist U.S. demands for additional concessions in the auto sector, such as a longer phaseout for a U.S. car tariff, and are insisting that any major concessions they make would have to be offset with U.S. concessions on agriculture,” online magazine World Trade Online.
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