U.S. and S. Korea reach trade pact

South Korea and the United States reached a deal today that could increase their annual $72-billion trade by more than $20 billion, officials from both countries said.

The agreement follows nine months of talks between the U.S. and Asia’s third-largest economy, and comes in time to allow the Bush administration to use fast-track trade legislation that expires June 30. The legislation allows the president to negotiate trade pacts that Congress may approve or reject, but not alter.

Details of the pact were not available, but South Korean officials have said the most contentious issues were agriculture, including beef and oranges, and automobiles.

Each side wants the other to lower tariffs and other barriers to auto imports. The United States has been demanding that South Korea, whose consumers pay among the world’s highest prices for food, open its tightly protected farm market to American beef imports.

South Korea used to be a major market for U.S. beef until Seoul banned imports in 2003 in response to a case of mad cow disease in Washington state. South Korea said in September that it would resume imports provided that beef parts it deemed risky, such as bones, were not included.

Some estimates say an agreement could add $20 billion to two-way trade each year.

Months of talks have been overshadowed by large and sometimes violent protests in South Korea, mostly over fears that its heavily subsidized farmers could not survive a flood of cheaper American farm products.

The U.S. government had demanded changes to South Korea’s tax structure to remove restrictions on American cars. The United States also wants greater access to South Korea’s lucrative financial services, including insurance.