FOREIGN POLICY/SOUTH KOREA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration and South Korean officials will meet on Friday [1-5-18] to begin formally renegotiating a free-trade pact that has served as a source of conflict between the two allies. The meeting comes at a moment of heightened tension in the Korean Peninsula and unease in the broader region.
President Trump has called the six-year old agreement a “horrible deal” for the United States and pledged to rework it. Over a series of meetings in the coming months, American negotiators hope to further open Korean markets to American cars and agricultural products and smooth irritants in the trading relationship.
But clashes over trading terms could risk dividing the longstanding allies at a critical time, as North Korea seeks to drive a wedge between South Korea and Mr. Trump, analysts say. North Korea restored a cross-border telephone hotline with its southern neighbor on Wednesday, just one day after the American president said he has a ‘much bigger’ nuclear button than the one North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, boasted of having on his desk… The Trump administration’s approach to trade has caused consternation in the broader Pacific region as well at a time of geopolitical unease.
The White Hose now emphasizes trade deals with specific countries rather than broader economic alliances. The approach counters efforts made by the Obama administration, which sought to tie countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean together under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It also comes as China moves to piece together a sphere of influence through regional trade agreements and infrastructure projects.”
-Ana Swanson, “U.S. to Start Korean Trade Talks Amid Rising Tensions,” The New York Times online, Jan. 5, 2018