Asia,North America

This paper addresses the U.S.-South Korea alliance in the context of Asia’s evolving security architecture. At the crux of the issue is the Biden administration’s desire to uphold the rules-based…

This is the first post in a two part series on U.S.-Korea energy cooperation. The second part can be found here. By Kim Heejip The global energy market has been going through dynamic changes recently, unseen for many years.  The recent price drop of oil and gas in the global market has been extremely rapid.  Since…

By Phil Eskeland Just prior to President Obama’s recent trip to Asia, critics of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) blamed the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) for the “exploding” U.S. trade deficit with South Korea.  Thus, opponents of FTAs use this specific bilateral trade statistic to argue against TPP and providing Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)…

By Phil Eskeland As President Barack Obama arrives in Asia, some critics of free trade use out-of-date or incomplete trade statistics on the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to justify opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). First, it is premature to offer a definitive opinion on the success or failure of any trade…

By Phil Eskeland Last November, after many months of consideration, South Korea expressed its interest in joining the 12 other Pacific Rim nations in participating in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.  Almost immediately, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) welcomed Korea’s decision.  The aim of the talks is to conclude “an ambitious, comprehensive, and high-standard…