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| ▲ The file photo shows South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo (L) and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai shake hands ahead of their meeting in Seoul on Nov. 19, 2021. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-US FTA
Top trade officials of S. Korea, U.S. to mark 10th anniversary of free trade agreement
By Byun Duk-kun
DETROIT, March 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to the city of Auburn, Michigan this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA).
The two will arrive here Wednesday for a visit to a factory in Auburn that is owned and run by South Korea's SK Group, highlighting the growing economic cooperation between the two allies.
"Ambassador Tai, Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05), and South Korea Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will tour and meet with business executives from SK Siltron CSS on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement's entry into force," the office of the USTR said earlier.
The bilateral trade pact was enacted 10 years ago Tuesday. SK Siltron CSS produces silicon carbide (SIC) wafers, a key component in the production of semiconductors for electric vehicles and other uses.
Their trip follows their meeting in Washington on Tuesday where they discussed ways to further expand their countries' economic and trade cooperation.
Bilateral trade between South Korea and the U.S. has jumped nearly 70 percent since the FTA was enacted, with their trade of goods coming to US$169.1 billion last year, compared with $100.8 billion in 2011, according to South Korean government data.
Yeo earlier said their bilateral investment has more than doubled in both directions over the cited period.
"It is a fact that KORUS FTA expanded the size of the trade pipe between our two countries over 70 percent over the past decade, double and triple investment flow in both directions," he told a seminar in Washington on Monday.
"I'd like to emphasize that the decade long KORUS FTA was a game changer, which fundamentally transformed the nature of KORUS partnership into an equal and strategic partnership," he added.
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