• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.25-44
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• 2017

In 2017, the EU-Japan FTA talks were resumed ahead of the G20 summit in Brussels, Belgium, and agreed to abolish tariffs on 95% of all trade items. These figures are highly liberalized agreements that are equivalent to the Pacific Rim Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP). Particularly, Japanese automobiles were aggressively negotiating the abolition of tariffs with 7-year grace period and the gradual elimination of European cheese in 15 years. If the agreement is concluded, the tariffs of 1 billion euros (about 1.3 trillion won) will disappear, and Korea, which has similar industrial structure with Japan, will be hit by the processed food, chemical products, medical equipment, dairy products and automobile industries. do. The purpose of this study is to examine the mutual recognition agreement (MRA) that can directly affect the Korean companies in the content of the Japan-EU FTA and to suggest the implications for the Korean export companies.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2016

This study reviews international discussions about the trade-labor linkage and examines the labor chapters of FTAs enforced by the US and the EU from a comparative perspective. Since early 1990s, starting from the NAFTA, the US has included forceable labor provisions in its FTAs and this trend continues to the TPP which was concluded in October 2015. On the other hand, the EU's labor provisions in its FTAs have been composed of promotional elements on labor rights based on cooperations and dialogues. These different features of labor provisions in the US and European FTAs are mainly due to the motives of the FTAs of the US and the EU respectively as well as their domestic situations with regards to domestic law and institutional set-ups. The coordination of labor provisions involves a long-term institutional as well as regulatory convergence which triggers not only economic but also social changes, compared to a relatively short-term effect of tariff elimination. For Korea which has been a FTA partner country both with the US and the EU, it is significant to keep the different characteristics in the labor provisions in mind, particularly in the process of its implementation. Concerning the implementation of Korea-US FTA, it might be problematic if Korean law and its regulatory practice on labor-management relations do not comply with that of the US. The Korea-EU FTA case can also have an indirect impact on Korea's labor laws since it stipulates in its provisions that both parties should have discussions not only within each government but also with the civil communities including NGOs. Thus, Korea should pay more attention to the true meaning in labor provisions of both FTAs in order to promote its firms to be equipped with the right labor-management system in their operations abroad.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.123-157
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• 2016

As the WTO·DDA continues to stagnate, mega FTAs such as the TPP will likely play the leading role in rule-making of trade for some time to come, creating a 'spaghetti bowl' of trade rules. FTAs, notably high-standard and broad-based regional or mega-FTAs, are the appropriate means to achieve this objective, because they cover many of the policy measures that are needed for the development of global value chains(GVC). The highest quality FTAs are increasingly adding new features like regulatory harmonization that may also foster GVC growth in partner countries. Complementary relationships among markets along value chains, involving both goods and services, also complicate analysis. This is particularly relevant when thinking about policy, since the traditional tendency to think about policies and regulate markets in unconnected silos can lead to unintended and undesirable results. This paper examines the current states of FTAs to determine which are more likely to push this latest wave of globalization further and faster, and explores the plans that are most helpful for GVC growth.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.3870-3881
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• 2015

This study examined one of the contemporary issues on debate to identify any significant financial determinants on the cash holdings of the cheabol firms in the Korean domestic capital markets. Several important findings on the financial characteristics affecting the cash holdings were evidenced by utilizing various methodologies for statistical estimations. Financial or managerial implications with discussion were provided for the pronounced factors such as CASHFLOW, MVBV, REINVEST, and AGENCY. Assuming that the chaebol firms were overall subject to the financial constrains, they may increase or stockpile cash reserves as internal capital for future investment opportunities or repayment of existing debt, rather than external financing burdened by a high cost of capital. Given the on-going controversy on the optimal level of corporate cash holdings coupled with any foreseeable capital transfer among the associated nations through the investment vehicles such the FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) or TPP (Trans-Pacific Pacts), any empirical findings of the study may shed new light on identifying financial determinants which may significantly affect the level of cash holdings for the business conglomerates, the 'chaebol' firms, in the Korean capital markets.