‘FTA Without US Concessions Meaningless’
작성자
Korea Times
작성일
2007-02-14 00:00
조회
2567
‘FTA Without US Concessions Meaningless’
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
There is not much to gain in the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States unless it makes concessions in trade remedies, and Korea should have pursued an FTA with China or Japan before the United States, a leading Japanese economist said Tuesday.
Waseda University professor Fukagawa Yukiko said in a lecture hosted by Institute for Global Economics that Japan regards Korea as a testing ground for Japan’s FTA with the U.S. since Washington will be demanding similar things from Tokyo.
She said the U.S. is the toughest partner for FTA talks with lots of demands, and added that Korea would have had a head start if it had completed an FTA with Japan or China before having talks with America.
``While an FTA with the United States can be burdensome for Korea’s agricultural sector, Japan is perhaps the only country where Korea’s agriculture has comparative advantage,’’ ``Japan has a lot of new ideas in agriculture, as seen in corporations engaged in agriculture. Korea could see Japan (as an FTA partner) in a strategic alliance,’’ Fukagawa said.
She said Japan would push for FTA with the U.S. only if Washington gives Korea some favors regarding anti dumping measures and its `Super 301.’ ``The United States, however, has never conceded in these areas.’’
However, she did expect demand for an FTA with Japan to grow in the U.S. if Japan, the largest beef market in the world, opens its doors to Australian beef in their FTA talks.
She advised that creating jobs should be the first priority in pursuing an FTA. The Kaesong Industrial Complex and the rules of origin issues that Korean government sticks to, however, don’t seem to have much to do with job creation, she said.
Fukagawa wasn’t supportive of Korean companies’ focusing on cutting down labor expenses and outsourcing.
``Japan’s technology is dependant on human resources. As Japan is pursuing technology that China can’t copy, the firms must invest in human resources that are like a black box.’’
She said small and medium size Japanese firms which survived competition with Chinese firms are the ones with black box technology that no one can copy, the ones with 50 to 60 percent of the global market share.
Fukagawa said Japan is going through the longest economic recovery since the lost decade, even though it is still faced with mounting challenges. She noted that one of the lessons that Japan could give Korea is that U.S. type reform is not the only absolute model. ``You (Korea) had no other chance but to follow U.S. type reform. Japan was so much criticized by Wall Street guys. But Japan muddled through, with not much political and social conflict.’’
She also advised that opening a market where the won and yen are traded directly would help stabilize the won gaining over yen.
chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr
02-13-2007 19:51
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
There is not much to gain in the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States unless it makes concessions in trade remedies, and Korea should have pursued an FTA with China or Japan before the United States, a leading Japanese economist said Tuesday.
Waseda University professor Fukagawa Yukiko said in a lecture hosted by Institute for Global Economics that Japan regards Korea as a testing ground for Japan’s FTA with the U.S. since Washington will be demanding similar things from Tokyo.
She said the U.S. is the toughest partner for FTA talks with lots of demands, and added that Korea would have had a head start if it had completed an FTA with Japan or China before having talks with America.
``While an FTA with the United States can be burdensome for Korea’s agricultural sector, Japan is perhaps the only country where Korea’s agriculture has comparative advantage,’’ ``Japan has a lot of new ideas in agriculture, as seen in corporations engaged in agriculture. Korea could see Japan (as an FTA partner) in a strategic alliance,’’ Fukagawa said.
She said Japan would push for FTA with the U.S. only if Washington gives Korea some favors regarding anti dumping measures and its `Super 301.’ ``The United States, however, has never conceded in these areas.’’
However, she did expect demand for an FTA with Japan to grow in the U.S. if Japan, the largest beef market in the world, opens its doors to Australian beef in their FTA talks.
She advised that creating jobs should be the first priority in pursuing an FTA. The Kaesong Industrial Complex and the rules of origin issues that Korean government sticks to, however, don’t seem to have much to do with job creation, she said.
Fukagawa wasn’t supportive of Korean companies’ focusing on cutting down labor expenses and outsourcing.
``Japan’s technology is dependant on human resources. As Japan is pursuing technology that China can’t copy, the firms must invest in human resources that are like a black box.’’
She said small and medium size Japanese firms which survived competition with Chinese firms are the ones with black box technology that no one can copy, the ones with 50 to 60 percent of the global market share.
Fukagawa said Japan is going through the longest economic recovery since the lost decade, even though it is still faced with mounting challenges. She noted that one of the lessons that Japan could give Korea is that U.S. type reform is not the only absolute model. ``You (Korea) had no other chance but to follow U.S. type reform. Japan was so much criticized by Wall Street guys. But Japan muddled through, with not much political and social conflict.’’
She also advised that opening a market where the won and yen are traded directly would help stabilize the won gaining over yen.
chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr
02-13-2007 19:51
전체 0