SEJONG (South Korea), Aug 1 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- The South Korean government reaffirmed on Friday that its trade deal with the United States (US) does not include further opening of the country's rice market to American products, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"The Korea-U.S. trade deal did not cover the rice issue," the finance, industry and agriculture ministries said in a joint press release.
On Thursday, the two countries struck an agreement under which the US lowered its reciprocal tariff rate for South Korea to 15 per cent from the initially proposed 25 per cent in return for Seoul's pledge to invest US$350 billion in the world's largest economy and purchase US$100 billion worth of American liquefied natural gas and other energy products over the next four years.
Rice and beef imports were originally considered key sticking points in tariff negotiations between the two sides, but Thursday's trade deal did not include the issues, according to the Seoul government.
The US Administration had reportedly pressured Seoul to further open up its rice and beef markets, raising issue with Korea's import ban on American beef products from cattle aged 30 months or older.
-- BERNAMA-YONHAP
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