ISDS Case Map
Korea
European Union ministers meeting on Monday gave Italy until Thursday to decide whether it wants to confirm its veto on a free-trade agreement with South Korea, diplomats told the German Press Agency dpa.
European partners scrambled on Monday to convince Italy to drop its opposition to a trade deal with South Korea ahead of an EU summit, as Rome fretted about the impact on its vital auto industry.
A hoped-for green light from the European Council, which comprises 27 member-states, was not forthcoming on Friday, as EU trade ministers met to try and break the deadlock.
The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council yesterday decided to rediscuss the approval of a free trade pact with Korea on Monday, and the 27-member bloc hopes to sign the pact in early October, the minister presiding over the council meeting said.
Italy will veto a free-trade deal between the European Union and South Korea unless changes are made or the implementation of the agreement is pushed back a year, the junior minister for foreign trade warned on Tuesday.
MEPs have broadly welcomed new safeguard measures being brought in as part of a free trade agreement between the EU and South Korea.
Korea is on track to have a second free trade partner in South America after Chile back in 2003.
Korea yesterday denied a U.S. media report that it planned to make new “concessions” to secure the ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement from the U.S. Congress.
South Korea, China and Japan will hold a second joint study meeting next month on the feasibility of a free trade agreement (FTA) among the three Northeast Asian countries, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday.
It is no secret that one of the final sticking points in the Korea-U.S. FTA is the alleged Korean non-tariff barriers (“NTBs”) in the automobile sector. The United States takes the position that the enormously low penetration of the U.S. automobiles into the Korean market can only be explained by NTBs.
