Administration May Withdraw from South Korea Trade Pact Trump Branded a ‘Horrible’ Deal

Trump, Moon Kevin DietschGetty Images)
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Jacob M. Schlesinger, Michael C. Bender, and Jonathan Cheng write in the Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration is reevaluating the five-year-old bilateral trade pact with South Korea known as Korus, even to the point of signaling plans to withdraw entirely:  

The Trump administration is weighing giving notice to South Korea of plans to withdraw from a five-year-old bilateral trade pact, with a decision arriving as soon as this coming week, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly complained about the pact and the sharp increase in the U.S. trade deficit that followed the 2012 implementation of the agreement. Trade negotiators from the two countries have held a series of tense meetings over the summer with American officials leaving unhappy with what they felt was Korea’s unwillingness to make significant changes to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as Korus, according to people briefed on the meetings.

A White House spokeswoman said Saturday that “discussions are ongoing” with Seoul over the pact but declined to elaborate further. “We have no announcements at this time,” the spokeswoman added.

Read the rest of the story here.

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