The US formally declared on Thursday it wants to renegotiate its free trade agreement with South Korea, as the world's biggest economy seeks to redraw the global commerce system in its favour under President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump railed against trade agreements on the campaign trail, blaming them for the loss of American jobs as he courted support from working class voters, while supporters say that removing barriers to business increases prosperity overall.
He has already pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposal led by the Obama administration to create the world's biggest trade pact, which was signed in February last year but never went into force.
And talks are due to start next month on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, after Mr Trump backed down from a threat to withdraw unilaterally from the pact, which has boosted industry and created tight manufacturing, agriculture and business links throughout the region.
The US free trade agreement with South Korea, known as KORUS, went into force in March 2012, since when Washington says its trade deficit with the country has more than doubled, from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $27.6 billion last year.
Seoul puts the 2016 figure at $23.2 billion.
In a statement, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he had called a joint committee meeting under KORUS "to start the process of negotiating to remove barriers to US trade and consider needed amendments to the agreement".
Mr Trump has described KORUS as a "horrible" deal for the US, and in a letter to South Korea's trade minister, Lighthizer said there were "problems regarding market access in Korea for US exports" and Washington wanted to see a "more balanced trade relationship".
The joint committee should meet next month in Washington, he added.
Seoul reacted sceptically, with the ministry of trade, industry and energy saying in a statement that the deal could only be changed by mutual agreement.
"Under the FTA, it is not necessarily obligatory for our side to comply with the US proposal for amending the FTA," it said in a statement.
"First of all," it added, officials should "study, analyse and assess the effect of the KORUS FTA and determine whether the FTA should be blamed for the trade imbalance".
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Brief scores:
Toss: Rajputs, elected to field first
Sindhis 94-6 (10 ov)
Watson 42; Munaf 3-20
Rajputs 96-0 (4 ov)
Shahzad 74 not out
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
