business

S Korea, Australia sign free trade deal

4 Comments

South Korea and Australia signed a free trade deal Tuesday which will scrap almost all tariffs within a decade while immediately lifting levies on some key exports, including South Korean cars and Australian wine.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said there was "huge untapped potential" in trade between the two countries as the deal was signed, wrapping up four years of negotiations.

"I'm determined to build on this and I believe what we have signed today makes this a historic moment in the relationship between Australia and Korea," he said at a joint press conference with President Park Geun-Hye.

The two leaders watched as their trade ministers Yoon Sang-Jick and Andrew Robb signed the deal at Seoul's presidential Blue House.

Park said the "comprehensive, high-level free trade agreement" would help expand trade and investment and create new jobs in two countries with "complementary" economies.

The deal will see almost all tariffs on goods traded between the two countries scrapped within ten years of the pact taking effect.

Canberra will immediately abolish 5% tariffs on most South Korea-made cars as well as televisions, refrigerators and machinery.

Seoul, meanwhile, will immediately lift tariffs on nearly half of agricultural imports from Australia including wine and coconut oil, as well as around a fifth of fish imports.

It is hoped that the deal will be ratified by the end of the year, South Korea's trade ministry said.

Australia signed a separate trade pact with Japan on Monday, and Abbott said during Tuesday's press conference that Australia is doubling its efforts to clinch a free trade deal with China "as quickly as possible".

But he added: "We will do a deal with China if and when it is clearly in both our countries' best interest to do so".

The deal takes South Korea's total number of free trade agreements to ten, involving a total of 47 countries, Park said, with others including the United States, the European Union, ASEAN and India.

Seoul was Australia's seventh-largest trading partner last year, with imports to South Korea worth $20.78 billion.

South Korea's exports to Australia amounted to $9.56 billion, according to South Korean statistics.

© (c) 2014 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

4 Comments
Login to comment

wow didnt think Australia had a trade surplus with Korea, but with all the excellent Aussie beef, wine, fish foods etc you cant blame those Koreans.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't think this agreement covers beef since Koreans have as high or higher tariff on beef then Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Papi2013

In the fine print, Robb has given the Korean government the right to unilaterally reimpose significant tariffs on Australian beef if the volume of our exports grows by only 2% a year, and he has conceded similar “safeguard measures” for other Australian farm exports

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This is similar to the agreement between Australia and Japan also.

So sadly while these FTAs are still a win, it is only a small win for Korean, Australian and Japanese consumers and investors.

More freedom, one tiny little step at a time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites