US commerce secretary says TPP is at final stage

By Park Jin-hai

Penny Pritzker

Visiting US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is in its final stage.

During her first visit to Korea since she took office in June last year, Pritzker said that that they are in “eighth or ninth inning of the process.”

“There is a real belief that the U.S. and Japan can get over the last remaining issues to weed out. There is a real focus on that effort,” she said, during the press meeting, organized by AMCHAM, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Dongdaemun, Thursday.

Korea has worked hard for the last few years to be the FTA hub and expressed interest in joining the TPP.

The TPP is a proposed regional free-trade agreement and twelve countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region have participated in negotiations on the TPP including Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Malaysia, Mexico, the United States and Vietnam.

“We make a conscious effort to ensure the Korean government officials are aware of the status of what’s happening in the TPP, so that they don’t feel there is something happening without their understanding,” she added, describing it as an “open platform.”

Pritzker visited with 20 US medical and energy sector representatives who want to do more business in Korea.

In her speech about the importance of trade, innovation and entrepreneurship, she also highlighted that there is a clear area of common ground between the two countries and economies.

Saying that both Korea and the US see entrepreneurship as part of our economic DNA, she mentioned that the two leaders recognized the importance of young entrepreneurs having an opportunity to pursue their dreams and that both countries have seen economic growth driven by innovation.