Trump says he’s looking into South Korea trade accord future

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he would discuss the future of the US-South Korea free-trade agreement with his advisers following a newspaper report that he’s considering terminating the pact.

“I am,” Trump said in response to a question about whether he’s discussing the issue with advisers.

“It’s very much on my mind,” the president said during a visit to Houston last Saturday to view the damage from Hurricane Harvey.

Trump’s administration had begun talks with South Korea to revise a trade deal signed in 2012 by the Obama administration, but they failed to agree on a way forward after joint meetings in August. The dialogue comes amid rising tensions with North Korea over Pyongyang’s missile tests.

“Now is not the time for Washington to pull out of the Korus FTA because a rift between the allies is exactly what Pyongyang wants and it’s being served to them on a silver platter,” Duyeon Kim, a visiting senior fellow at the Seoul-based Korean Peninsula Future Forum, said yesteray.

The Washington Post reported earlier Saturday that Trump has ordered his advisers to prepare plans to withdraw from the pact, and that the formal process to leave could start as soon as this week.

No final decision has been made and Trump could remain in the agreement to see if changes are still possible, the newspaper reported, citing several people close to the process whom it didn’t identify.

No announcement is expected on the US-South Korea trade deal at this time, an official with the US Trade Representative office said Saturday. There is “no change” in South Korea’s policies on its free-trade agreement with the United States, Yonhap cited an unidentified official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as saying yesterday.

South Korea is “thoroughly preparing for all possibilities and will closely monitor” the US developments over the trade agreement, the ministry official said, according to Yonhap.

South Korean trade officials couldn’t be reached by phone for comment yesterday.