한-미 FTA 상품협정의 양허균형에 대한 고찰

A free trade agreement is a preferential trade agreement in which tariffs and non-tariff barriers between FTA parties are reduced or eliminated. Unlike a multilateral trade agreement, a preferential trade agreement aims to reach a balance in the mutual benefits received by parties through reciprocal market access. This paper examines the proposed KORUS FTA and tries to answer whether a mutual balance of benefits has been achieved between Korea and the United States through the FTA. The review of the KORUS FTA shows that there are provisions that only apply to one of the parties. The non-reciprocal provisions include Korea's unilateral commitment to reform Korea's internal taxes on automobiles, country specific staging categories for tariff eliminations and country specific tariff rate quotas. While the U.S. did not take exception to eventual elimination of tariffs on all goods from Korea, Korea excluded certain goods entirely from tariff elimination. The U.S. was compensated for the less favorable tariff liberalization by receiving Korea's promise to reform its domestic automobile tax system that was viewed by the U.S. as non-tariff barriers against U.S. autos. In sum, the trade in goods part of the KORUS FTA by and large achieved a balance in the mutual exchange of the benefits. The analysis implies that any attempt to “renegotiate” or “re-visit” the KORUS FTA in the automobile sector of the trade goods agreement would undermine this balance. The restoration of the balance would necessitate re-visiting other parts of the FTA.