SEOUL: China, South Korea and Japan agreed on Sunday to strengthen free trade in the face of a raft of new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
The agreement came at a meeting of top trade officials — the first at that level in five years — days ahead of the start of tariffs on a huge range of US imports, including cars, trucks, and auto parts.
South Korea and Japan are major auto exporters, while China has also been hit hard by the US tariffs.
The meeting was attended by South Korea’s industry minister Ahn Duk-geun, his Japanese counterpart Yoji Muto, and China’s Wang Wentao.
The three countries called for their negotiations for a comprehensive trilateral free-trade agreement to be speeded up, and agreed to create “a predictable trade and investment environment”, a statement said.
South Korea’s Ahn said the three countries must respond “jointly” to shared global challenges.
“Today’s economic and trade environment is marked by increasing fragmentation of the global economy,” he said.
“The international environment surrounding us is constantly changing, and uncertainties are increasing,” Japanese trade official Yasuji Komiyama said in a press briefing.
Chinese official Wang Liping said “unilateralism and protectionism are spreading” and the three countries must assume responsibility to safeguard the multilateral trading system.
The three countries account for 20% of the world’s population, 24% of the global economy, and 19% of global merchandise trade, he said.
Trump has promised tariffs tailored to each trading partner from April 2 to remedy practices he deems unfair.
But he also told reporters last week that there would be “flexibility”, and markets appeared to react with some relief at the end of last week.
