Trade officials from Korea and the U.S. held negotiations on 17 areas on Tuesday, attempting to narrow their differences over a wide range of issues, such as trade remedies.
Negotiators from the Republic of Korea and the United States at the seventh round of KORUS FTA (free trade agreement) negotiations made a deal at the field of electronic commerce in Washington D.C. on Feb.12, in an attempt to make a progress in the bilateral trade talks.
Korea and the U.S. agreed not to levy any tariff on digitalized movie or music when they are transmitted on the Internet, whereas the two nations agreed to impose tariff on music CD or DVD by classifying them into manufactured goods.
The agreement came a day after the two nations started the new round of the bilateral trade negotiations on Feb.12 (Sunday).
“We actually made a deal at the area of electronic commerce, although we have some works to do in the field,” said an official from Korean negotiation team on Monday.
He explained, “The agreement stems from commitment by the countries to make a great stride in the entire negotiations of KORUS FTA.”
It is reported that Korean chief negotiator met with his American counterpart Wendy Cutler to discuss issue areas such as trade remedies and auto, but they failed to make a breakthrough in the areas.
Korea and the U.S. reportedly began to narrow their differences over the issues at their working-level meetings, even though they have not seen great progress yet.