ISDS Case Map
corporate interests
BIO congratulates US Chief Agricultural Negotiator Richard Crowder and his staff for negotiating a separate understanding on several agricultural biotechnology issues. The FTA will go a long way in providing additional market access opportunities in Korea for US biotechnology companies.
China is making deep inroads in the region because of its trade initiatives, but Indian companies would be calling the shots in future, and the Asia-Pacific region might become a market for them.
The recent free trade agreement between Korea and the US could help uncork one of the hottest markets in an expanding Asian frontier: quality foodstuffs and wine.
Sunkist has long urged the United States government to undertake an FTA with Korea to reduce its tariffs on US citrus. Mike Wootton, Sunkist senior vice president of corporate relations, was in Seoul, in constant consultations with US negotiators, during the final two-week session as citrus issues were tabled.
The Joint Private-Sector Committee has supported the government's decision to sign the Japan and Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA), saying Thailand would lose a market share in Japan if the signing was cancelled or postponed.
US companies, led by Chevron, are threatening to withdraw support for a trade deal with South Korea, because they claim it leaves that country free to expropriate foreign assets and arbitrarily restrict the flow of capital.
Although Uruguay and Chile belong to Mercosur and have a wide ranging agreement dating back to 1996, Uruguay's goal is to reach “a free trade agreement similar to that with Mexico”.
More than a dozen farm groups are lobbying the US administration in Korea this week to ensure it only concludes a deal that significantly increases US agriculture exports. But agriculture's interests are somewhat complicated by those of the auto industry, which has warned it could oppose the deal unless it ensures that US exports to Korea will increase. Still, some sources say that support from agriculture could trump opposition from the auto industry if a deal is reached.
Letter from the Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries contesting the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce's claim that that the country's generic medicine manufacturers will do better if the Malaysia-US free trade agreement is signed.
Past EU bilateral and regional agreements have been strongly influenced by political concerns. The new generation of FTAs must be based on economic criteria: where the EU's current and future markets lie.
