February 13, 2006

Governor Says New Trade Agreement Must Include Specific Commitments to Open Korean Markets to American Cars and Trucks

LANSING – In a letter to United States Trade Representative Rob Portman, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today said that if the President is serious about leveling the playing field for U.S. auto manufacturers, the administration must use the proposed Free Trade Agreement with Korea to ensure open access to Korean markets for American products.

“The top priority of the President’s trade agenda should be to open markets for the sale of American goods where our industries have historically been shut out.  I urge this administration to use the Korean Free Trade Agreement negotiations as an opportunity to eliminate Korea’s unfair trading practices and other non tariff barriers to ensure that American auto manufacturers have a fair opportunity to sell their products in Korea,” Granholm wrote.

Granholm said that a U.S. Free Trade Agreement with Korea would be the most economically significant free trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement. 

Korea currently stands as the United States’ seventh-largest trading partner, but has roughly 5 percent of the U.S. auto market, while the United States, European Union and Japan share only 2 percent in Korea’s auto market.  The discrepancy in trade statistics is the result of Korean trade barriers, such as their automotive tax structure which discriminates against foreign autos.

“With the President’s passive approach to trade, America’s trade deficit widens putting more good paying-jobs at risk,” Granholm said.  “Friday’s record-setting $725.8 billion deficit should serve as a wake-up call to his administration that ‘job one’ is to enforce our existing trade agreements so our citizens and businesses no longer have to go it alone in this global economy.”