Event Summary
The Peterson Institute for International Economics held an event to discuss a new Policy Brief, Korea and the TPP: The Inevitable Partnership, by PIIE Senior Fellow Jeffrey J. Schott, on September 28, 2015. Schott presented his argument that Korea will need to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) sooner or later but now faces additional costs because it chose not to ask to join before the basic outlines of the trade deal were struck. Il Houng Lee, president of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), offered comments on the outlook for Korean trade policy and participation in the TPP.
Schott has been with the Institute since 1983. He is the author of numerous studies on trade policy, economic integration in the Americas and Asia, and economic sanctions. He has led the Institute's research in the area of bilateral and regional free trade agreements, including his 2001 study, Free Trade between Korea and the United States?, which laid the groundwork for the Korea-US FTA, or KORUS. Since January 2003, he has been a member of the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee of the US government. He is also a member of the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and chairs its sanctions subcommittee.
President Lee has been president of KIEP since 2013. He has also held the positions of ambassador for international cooperation and G-20 sherpa for the Republic of Korea and visiting professor at Jilin University, China, since 2013. During 1996–2013, he held many positions at the International Monetary Fund, including chief resident representative in China, chief resident representative in Vietnam, and senior economist in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. He was a Tutorial Fellow at Warwick University during 1988–89.
Event Materials
Presentations: Jeffrey J. Schott [pdf] | Il Houng Lee [pdf]