Trade minister asks U.S. for fairer dumping laws

Joo Hyung-hwan, Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, has asked the U.S government to conduct fair antidumping regulations on Korean steel products.

The trade minister’s request comes amid growing concerns over protectionism in the global market.

Joo attended the World Trade Organization’s mini-ministerial summit, with 24 trade ministers from member nations in Oslo, Norway, this weekend, and discussed ways to improve the global economy as well.

Joo talked with U.S. trade representative Michael Froman and showed concerns about U.S. regulations on imports and tariffs on Korean steel products, and asked the U.S. to take fairer measures, the Trade Ministry said on Sunday.

Currently, the U.S. government can levy higher tariffs to companies facing lawsuits for antidumping by citing unfavorable data. The Korean government asked the United States to review other relatively favorable data before levying antidumping tariffs. An antidumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a country imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced lower than fair market value

“The free trade agreement between the two countries has helped the bilateral trade and the two countries’ economies,” Joo said.

According to the Trade Ministry, the two countries’ trade volume rose 15 percent from $100 billion in 2011 to $115 billion in 2015, while global trade dropped 9.8 percent from $18.3 trillion to $16.5 trillion during the same period.

At the recent WTO meeting in Oslo, member states agreed that they should have successful economic results by the end of next year, when the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference will be held, the Trade Ministry said.

Joo has emphasized the need to focus on e-commerce, an industry that has been growing rapidly and said it is important to have multilateral economic relationships with emerging countries.

Meanwhile, Joo also met with his counterparts from Colombia and Pakistan and discussed ways to strengthen their economic relationships.

BY KIM YOUNG-NAM [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]