SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and the United States failed to score a breakthrough on a long-stalled free-trade agreement and will keep negotiating, their presidents said Thursday, in a sharp setback to hopes of speedily ratifying the ambitious accord.
The two sides have been holding negotiations this week to jump-start the deal to slash tariffs and other barriers to trade that was signed in 2007, when previous administrations were in power. It remains unratified by lawmakers in both countries.
Progress has been slowed by U.S. demands that South Korea reduce its surplus in auto trade and further open its market for American beef. The global financial crisis in 2008 and the recession that followed also sapped momentum.
“We share the view that we need more time,” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said at a joint news conference with President Barack Obama.
Obama had hoped to announce a deal on the pact while in South Korea for a summit of the Group of 20 economic powers, but instead he will return home empty-handed.
“We have asked our teams to work tirelessly in the coming days and weeks to get this completed,” Obama said.
“We don’t want months to pass before we get this done,” he said. “We want this to be done in a matter of weeks.”
The leaders did not say what issues prevented an agreement, but South Korean news reports said earlier this week that the U.S. was pressing Seoul to loosen auto fuel and emissions standards to help boost U.S. sales of cars to South Korea.
