Seoul Korea - The Korea-Canada free trade agreement will go into effect from January 1 next year. Consumers are keenly interested in items that will benefit from the new pact, such as Canada Goose winter jackets, ice wine, and lobsters.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy said on December 14 that the free trade agreement between Canada and Korea will be officially kicked off on the first day of January next year as the Canadian government approved a proposal to ratify the FTA. Earlier on December 2, the Korean National Assembly passed the ratification proposal.
With the free trade agreement, the 13-percent tariff duties imposed on jackets, blazers, and jumpers will be eliminated from the first day of 2015. The 15-percent duties on ice wine will be phased out in three years, with their expiration scheduled on January 1 in 2017. The 20-percent duties on frozen lobsters will be abolished immediately while non-frozen ones will have a grace period of three years.
Other import items like chilled pork (import duty of 22.5%) and frozen pork belly (25%), beef (40%), and unroasted malt (269%) will see their duties disappear within 13 years, 15 years and 12 years, respectively.
The 6.1-percent duties on automobile exports to Canada will be reduced in stages in three years. The duties on color TVs (5%), washing machines and vacuum cleaners (8%) will be removed immediately after the deal takes effect early next year. The 8-percent duties on refrigerators will be phased out in three years while the 7-percent tax on tires (for passenger cars, buses and trucks) will be abolished within five years.
By 신지혜 기자
