Washington – As U.S. and Korean officials advance towards a U.S.-Korea Agreement before the upcoming APEC Leaders Summit in Korea on October 31, several key existing and looming barriers must be addressed to ensure that U.S.-Korea trade relations are reset to a more stable and mutually-beneficial foundation.
Key issues to be addressed include eliminating or addressing existing impediments, previously described in detail, including restrictions on the export of map data for location-based services and restrictions on U.S. suppliers’ access to the public sector cloud computing market, as well as repealing an obsolete regulation on internet interconnection and refraining from extending it to content and application providers. In addition, industry remains concerned about recently proposed measures that unduly target and discriminate against U.S. firms, including general “Platform Transaction Fairness Bills,” an Amendment of the Network Act introducing EU-style content-controls, and the draft Enforcement Decree of the Basic AI Act.
Over the past several years, the Computer & Communications Industry Association has been actively engaged in identifying and seeking to address pervasive market access barriers affecting U.S. digital suppliers in the Korean market.
The following can be attributed to Jonathan McHale, CCIA Vice President for Digital Trade:
“Korea’s hosting of APEC, culminating in the upcoming Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju at the end of the month, is an unprecedented opportunity to put U.S.-Korea economic relations on firmer footing by addressing trade barriers in the Korean market, both longstanding and imminent, most evident in the digital sector. We urge the U.S. and Korean governments to seize this moment and set Korea on a clear path towards fair and open markets by removing longstanding irritants and pledging to refrain from introducing new unreasonable or discriminatory measures.”
