South Korean autoworkers slam new U.S. trade deal
SEOUL, South Korea - Unions at South Korea's two-largest automakers, Hyundai and Kia, have blasted plans to revise a free trade deal with the U.S., saying the amended pact will prevent local automakers from entering the fast-growing U.S. pickup truck market.
"It is a humiliating deal that accepts Trump's strategy to preemptively block South Korean pickup trucks," Hyundai Motor's labor union said in a statement.
As part of talks on revamping a free trade deal that took effect in 2012, South Korea and the U.S. agreed to push back the earlier agreed-to elimination of import tariffs on pickup trucks by 20 years to 2041. South Korea's top negotiator said Monday the move will have little impact on local automakers because they don't currently export any domestically produced pickups to the U.S.
However, Hyundai's labor union complained that the government gave in to U.S. President Donald Trump at a time when the American market represents big opportunities. Big U.S. automakers are trying to "kill the South Korean auto industry," it said.
Kia's labor union said it shares that view.
Hyundai said in a statement that it hoped the two governments would work together for further development of the automotive industry. It wouldn't comment on issue of tariffs on pickup exports.
The outcome of the negotiations was mixed. While some complained about concessions in the auto sector, South Korea did win an exemption from recently announced import tariffs on its steel products.
While Hyundai, the maker of the Sonata sedan and Tucson SUV, doesn't produce pickups, in 2015 and in 2016 it displayed prototypes that might be made within several years.
Hyundai and Kia, which belong to the world's fifth-largest automotive group, have been struggling as sales slow down in China and the U.S. New pickups could help offset that weakness.
Ssangyong Motor, the Korean unit of India's Mahindra & Mahindra and the only auto brand in South Korea that produces pickups, said it expects little impact from the revision of the trade deal because it doesn't plan to enter the U.S. market. Ssangyong's Korando Sports and and Rexton Sports pickups are sold in Europe and South America.