Seoul, May 16
South Korea has again asked the United States to exempt the country from all tariffs, Seoul's Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun said on Friday, after meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a trade ministers' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies.
In the meeting, the two sides agreed to hold their second round of technical discussions in Washington next week on six areas related to trade -- trade imbalances, non-tariff measures, economic security, country of origin of products and commercial considerations -- Ahn said.
Next week's meeting is expected to be followed by additional high-level talks in mid-June, he added, reports news agency.
The high-level meeting held on South Korea's southern island of Jeju comes about three weeks after their last gathering in Washington for high-level trade consultations, where the two sides agreed to pursue a "package" deal on U.S. tariffs and economic cooperation issues by July 8.
Greer was participating in the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting on Jeju, which wrapped up its two-day run on Friday.
Last month, Seoul and Washington agreed to focus their talks on four categories -- tariff and non-tariff measures, economic security, investment cooperation and currency policies.