Brushing off protests against their eighth round of negotiations that began Thursday and are scheduled to end Monday, the two sides need to put a deal on the table by the end of March to take advantage of U.S. President George W. Bush’s expiring special trade promotion powers.

“We’re making very good progress this week,” Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler said, according to a transcript of an interview Saturday with South Korean television broadcasters. “Momentum is building.”

Asked to rate progress on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest, Cutler said: “We’re getting close to ten.”

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email