Posted on 11/15/2019 1:12:00 AM PST by AdmSmith
Japanese trade data showed beer exports to South Korea plunged to zero last month from 800 million yen ($7.3 million) a year earlier, amid boycotts sparked by an escalating trade spat between the Asian neighbors.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/29/business/south-korea-japan-trade-war-beer-export/index.html
When it has reached the beer stage it is a problem.
At least they are meeting:
Yoichi Iida, director-basic on the Japanese trade ministry’s trade management division, and his South Korean counterpart Lee Ho-Hyeon, met in Tokyo for the primary senior-stage bilateral talks in three and a half years. The 2 made no remark to one another or to media as they shook palms at the start of their assembly.
Background about the chemicals (fluorinated polyimide, hydrogen fluoride, and photoresist) that Japan is using as a tool against South Korea in the dispute.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday it has eased recently tightened controls on exports to South Korea of one of three crucial chemicals used to make semiconductors — a sign of thawing tensions just days before their leaders meet in China.
METI said it is granting a three-year bulk permit to one company to ship photoresist, a chemical used to make semiconductors, to a business partner in South Korea. The ministry said the step, which takes effect immediately, reflects the good record between the two companies.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are to hold a one-on-one meeting on Christmas eve on the sidelines of the trilateral summit.
A small step, but more is needed:
Moon and Abe later met for a one-on-one summit, where the South Korean president described the two countries as “closest neighbors, historically and culturally” and expressed hope that they could sort out their differences through dialogue.
But the meeting ended without a breakthrough, with the leaders failing to narrow their differences over South Korean court rulings that called for Japanese companies to compensate aging South Korean plaintiffs for their World War II forced labor, which has been a major sticking point between the countries.
Moon’s office said he repeated Seoul’s demands that Tokyo reverse its moves to downgrade South Korea’s status as a trade partner and tighten controls on shipments of Japanese chemicals that are used by major South Korean companies to produce computer chips and smartphones, which are key export items for the country. Abe, in response, said that the countries should sort out the problems through talks between trade officials, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said.
Li, who is chiefly responsible for overseeing China’s economy, acknowledged the frictions between Japan and South Korea, but said that would not alter China’s commitment to free trade and open markets. Although China has been accused of “weaponizing” trade in political disputes and unfairly backing its major state companies, it has been a leading voice against protectionism amid its ongoing tariff war with Washington.
“We invite South Korean and Japanese enterprises to take an advantageous position, grasp the broad opportunities, win more business opportunities and better realize mutual success,” Li said.
https://apnews.com/81a9079809fe24aed81415a71fe8bba2
This requires multilateral trade agreements, otherwise China will kill markets with subsidized production. See https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3789661/posts
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