Seoul, June 16 (IANS) South Korea’s trade minister on Tuesday discussed countermeasures against Washington’s proposed tariffs on dozens of countries, including Asia’s fourth-largest economy, over their alleged failure to enforce import bans on products made through forced labour.

Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo met with officials from related ministries to discuss the progress of Seoul’s talks with Washington regarding the issue, as well as follow-up measures, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, without elaborating on details, reports Yonhap news agency.

The discussions came as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently proposed imposing tariffs of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on products from 60 trading partners over their alleged failure to enforce import bans on products made with forced labour.

South Korea is among the dozens of economies that would face the 12.5 percent levy. “The government will work closely with related ministries, with national interests as the top priority, while enhancing the competitiveness of our businesses and diversifying export markets,” Yeo was quoted as saying by the ministry.

During the meeting, the participants also reviewed the progress of trade deals currently under discussion, vowing to make swift progress in negotiations with Mongolia, as well as in talks on services and investment under the bilateral free trade agreement with China.

Meanwhile, US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer has sent a letter to the Washington Post editorial board to rebut its recent editorial criticising proposed tariffs on South Korea and other economies over forced labour concerns, saying the piece was driven by its “antipathy” toward President Donald Trump.

The USTR office said that Greer wrote the letter in response to the June 3 editorial, in which the newspaper argued that the new tariff announcement represented a “pretext for protectionism” and that if it were not, China would not be subject to the same new import taxes as South Korea, Japan and Switzerland.

The USTR has proposed imposing additional tariffs of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on imports from 60 economies over what it called their failure to effectively enforce prohibitions on the importation of goods made with forced labor. South Korea, China and Japan are among 54 economies that could face 12.5 percent tariffs.

—IANS

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