hankyoreh

White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro

The head of the White House National Trade Council (NTC) accused Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics of “cheating” and denounced them for unfair trade behavior.

The remarks from NTC Director Peter Navarro come on the heels of hints from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) that the US may attempt to renegotiate its Free Trade Agreement with South Korea (KORUS FTA).

Speaking at a general meeting the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on Mar. 6, Navarro said the emblematic US brand Whirlpool was “grappling with a practice called country hopping” by its South Korean competitors.

“Two of the South Korean competitors, LG and Samsung, simply move the production to another country each time Whirlpool wins antidumping cases against them,” Navarro said.

“Such country hopping has happened twice to Whirlpool already. LG and Samsung have moved from China to Vietnam and Thailand,” he continued, adding that this was “the kind of trade cheating that must be stopped.”

With his remarks, Navarro accused South Korean businesses of strategically avoiding antidumping measures by simply changing the countries where their items are produced.

Navarro went on to say the approach “puts thousands of Americans on the unemployment line” and “imposes millions of dollars of losses on companies like Whirlpool.”

He also raised the issue of trade security, saying it was “in the interest of national security to reduce these [bilateral trade] deficits.”

The public criticism of South Korean businesses is being taken as hinting at harder hitting to come on trade issues. Newly created by President Donald Trump, the NTC is an organization that oversees all aspects of trade policy. Navarro, who has been famously vocal in his opposition to China since his days as a professor, also repeatedly blasted the KORUS FTA during Trump’s election campaign as having eliminated jobs for Americans.

China accounted for the majority of the US trade deficit last year at 47%, followed by Germany, Mexico, and Japan. The US trade deficit with South Korea is its eighth largest.

In what may have been a gesture to the White House, neither Samsung Electronics nor LG Electronics commented on Navarro’s remarks. Business world observers said that moving production bases to increase price competitiveness and optimize production was an ordinary practice and that Navarro‘s comments only represented the position of US businesses.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]