DES MOINES, Iowa – South Korea’s ambassador to the United States says his country will likely sign a free trade agreement with Canada before the end of 2011.
“We are negotiating with Canada and Australia. Canada, I think, can be signed, and Australia can be signed by the end of this year,” Han Duk Soo said yesterday during his keynote speech at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.
He later told reporters that negotiations with Canada, which started in 2005, are almost completed.
“We have only one critical element that is left (to negotiate) with Canada. That is on beef,” he said.
South Korea has banned Canadian beef imports since 2003, when Canada’s first case of BSE was discovered.
Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization, and the WTO is expected to rule on the case in August. However, media reports this spring suggested that South Korea may lift the ban before the ruling.
“We (Korean officials) do not believe that it is scientifically unsafe (Canadian beef), but consumer perception is not yet catching up with that,” Han said.
“There are still lingering doubts, in terms of consumer perception.”
The remainder of the free trade deal should come together if the beef dispute can be sorted out, he added.
“There may be some agreement on that (beef), then the whole process may move more quickly.”
Han said the free trade deal would give Canadian pork a boost in the Korean market.
Canada was once the second biggest supplier of pork to Korea, after the U.S. However, Han said Canada is now third behind Chile, thanks to a free trade agreement that took effect in 2004.
The Canadian Pork Council said in a March news release that Canadian producers could lose the Korean market to the U.S. and the European Union if Canada doesn’t expedite the trade deal.
The U.S. Congress may ratify a free trade agreement with Korea this summer and an agreement between the EU and South Korea takes effect July 1. Both deals would phase out 25 percent Korean tariffs on imported pork over a 10 year period.
“We cannot wait for the elusive comprehensive, high quality agreement to revive from its coma. We don’t have time for more process,” said Canada Pork International chair Edouard Asnong.
“Our third largest market is at risk. We need action now.”
Canadian pork exports to South Korea were worth more than $138 million in 2008.
