WHAT ABOUT THE STEEL TARIFFS?:

South Korea and U.S. reach free trade agreement (The Associated Press, April 1, 2007)

The United States and South Korea concluded a landmark free trade agreement Monday, officials said, culminating 10 months of negotiations in a final week of intense haggling that just beat a key U.S. legislative deadline.

The deal, which requires approval by lawmakers in both countries, is the biggest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. It is the largest ever for South Korea.

Whose turn is it to try explaining to the libertarians?

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Dealing with the generals (Economist Intelligence Unit, 3/30/07, The Economist)

The proposed Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA), a free-trade deal with additional economic co-operation pacts, was initially agreed in late 2005, and both sides were set to sign the deal in April 2006. However, the dissolution of Thailand's parliament in February 2006 and the subsequent political turmoil forced the signing to be postponed.

The government of Thaksin Shinawatra, which was ousted in the September 2006 coup, sought to make rapid progress in reaching free-trade agreements (FTAs) with a number of its main trading partners, and this formed a central part of its economic policy platform. The Thaksin government had some success in its pursuit of FTAs, reaching deals with Australia and New Zealand and a more limited FTA with China. It had also made headway in negotiating agreements with Japan and the US, its main two trading partners. However, this policy raised some intense local opposition, with the drafting process lacking any public participation and the final drafts not being debated in parliament.

With the proposed JTEPA deemed more equitable than the FTA with the US, the interim government soon signalled its interest in completing the deal. Under the JTEPA as agreed by the Thaksin administration, Thailand is set to gain tariff reductions on its exports of a number of agricultural commodities, including shrimp, chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables, and canned fruit and juice. Thai garment exporters are also expected to gain from the deal. However, there are some sectors that could suffer. Owing to the proposed reductions on tariffs on steel imports and Japanese cars, the deal has upset the local steel industry and non-Japanese carmakers with operations in Thailand.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 2, 2007 7:25 AM