The United States formally declared on Thursday it wants to renegotiate its free trade agreement with South Korea, as the world’s biggest economy seeks to redraw the global commerce system in its favour under President Donald Trump. The US free trade agreement with South Korea, known as KORUS, went into force in March 2012, since when Washington says its trade deficit with the country has more than doubled, from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $27.6 billion last year. Chart showing US-South Korea merchandise trade 2006-2016. “First of all,” it added, officials should “study, analyse and assess the effect of the KORUS FTA and determine whether the FTA should be blamed for the trade imbalance”. Deeply entwined relationshipTrade is only one part of the deeply entwined relationship between South Korea and the United States, which are in a security alliance.

Source: Hindustan Times July 13, 2017 04:41 UTC