Influential business groups warned the Trump administration Sunday against a possible move to pull out of a free-trade agreement with South Korea.
The president and CEO of the Business Roundtable, Joshua Bolten, said the group also is raising alarms among lawmakers and governors whose states would be hurt by killing the trade deal, known as KORUS.
“More than 366,000 American jobs are tied to U.S. exports to South Korea,” Mr. Bolten said. “Withdrawing from KORUS would significantly disadvantage many successful U.S. exporters, seriously harm many U.S. manufacturers and consumers, and badly undermine broader U.S. economic and strategic interests.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged its members in an “all hands on deck” memo to lobby the administration and lawmakers to stop a decision that could come as early as this week.
“We encourage you to urgently arrange for calls by senior executives to the White House and other senior administration officials urging them not to proceed,” the memo stated. “If you can mobilize Republican governors or other opinion leaders who can make the geostrategic security argument, now is the time.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association also sent an appeal to its members Saturday to speak out in support of the agreement, which was first negotiated during the George W. Bush administration, with a renegotiated deal under President Obama implemented in 2012.
South Korea is the sixth-largest trading partner of the United States, with about $112 billion in goods traded between the two countries last year.
Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, said a move by President Trump to withdraw from the pact would hurt Nebraska’s economy.
“The president and Nebraska have a basic disagreement about trade,” Mr. Sasse said. “His administration holds 18th-century views of trade as a zero-sum game. I side with our farmers and ranchers who are feeding the world now.”
Mr. Trump told reporters Saturday that he and his advisers are considering withdrawing from KORUS imminently.
“It’s very much on my mind,” the president said of the trade deal.
After North Korea claimed Sunday that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable of fitting onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, Mr. Trump also warned that South Korea’s overall approach to Pyongyang isn’t working.
“South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
During his first meeting with new South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House in June, Mr. Trump made clear that he wants to renegotiate the trade agreement.
“It’s been a rough deal for the United States, but I think that it will be much different and it will be good for both parties,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “We want something that’s going to be good for the American worker.”
The U.S. and South Korea held a special session of the KORUS Joint Committee on Aug. 22 to discuss possible changes to the agreement. The U.S. Chamber’s memo said the talks between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong apparently didn’t make progress.
Mr. Trump has threatened previously to withdraw from KORUS, as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling both bad deals for the U.S. The U.S. trade deficit last year under KORUS was $17 billion.
A statement by Mr. Lighthizer’s office after the talks said the U.S. still has concerns about KORUS.
“Unfortunately, too many American workers have not benefited from the agreement,” Mr. Lighthizer said. “USTR has long pressed the Korean government to address burdensome regulations which often exclude U.S. firms or artificially set prices for American intellectual property. President Trump is committed to substantial improvements in the Korean agreement that address the trade imbalance and ensure that the deal is fully implemented.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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