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Obama urged to address Korea FTA's ratification in State of the Union speech
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- A group of Republican congressmen has called on President Barack Obama to move quickly to ratify the pending free trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia and discuss the deals in his State of the Union address next month.
"Bipartisan support for implementing trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea already exists," said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va) and three other lawmakers in a letter submitted to Obama Thursday. The others are John Boehner of Ohio, Mike Pence of Indiana and Dave Camp of Michigan.
"In the interest of supporting American job creation, we ask that you jumpstart the implementation process through your leadership, particularly by promoting all of these pending trade agreements when you speak to the nation in your State of the Union address," they said. "We offer our full support for your efforts and look forward to an opportunity to work steadfastly with you to implement each of these agreements as close to the start of next year as possible."
The U.S. has not yet ratified the FTA with South Korea, which was signed in 2007, and the others with Colombia and Panama amid rising protectionist sentiment in the Congress as controlling Democrats, supported by labor unions, fear the deal could bring job losses during the worst recession in decades.
Obama has also been focusing on health-care reform and the wars in Afghanistan and Iran.
South Korea has said it wants Congress to approve the deal by next summer, emphasizing that failure to do so could push ratification to after 2011 because of congressional elections next November.
The foreign affairs and trade committee of the South Korean National Assembly has approved the pact, and the ruling Grand National Party, which has the majority of seats in parliament, is set to bring it to the full Assembly for ratification as soon as Congress moves.
U.S. trade officials have said they want to address U.S. concerns over the imbalance in auto trade and restricted shipments of beef, possibly in side agreements without revising the text of the deal.
Proponents say that early congressional approval of the Korea FTA will help reduce unemployment and that any further delay will undermine the competitiveness of U.S. products abroad, citing Korea's move to forge similar deals with other countries.
South Korea recently initialed a free trade agreement with the European Union, and is actively seeking similar pacts with China, Japan, Canada, Colombia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and several other countries.
Independent studies show the implementation of the FTA with Korea, the seventh biggest trading partner for the U.S., will create 240,000 jobs and increase annual two-way trade by more than US$20 billion from the current $83 billion.
Obama said in Seoul last month that he is ready to deal with South Korea separately from other Asian countries, such as China, which has been accumulating a huge surplus in trade with the U.S.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he is willing to discuss the imbalance in auto trade, the biggest barrier to the ratification of the deal signed in June 2007.
While in Seoul, Obama said he was pleased to have more tools to persuade Congress, Seoul officials said.
They noted that Lee told Obama that South Korea's trade surplus with the U.S. was just about $8 billion, far less than those of China and Japan, and that the U.S. deficit is easily neutralized once the U.S. surplus with South Korea in finance is included.
Obama expressed concerns in Seoul over "the incredible trade imbalances" that the U.S. has experienced in recent decades, but added, "Those imbalances are not as prominent with Korea."
On the timing of the ratification, Obama said, "The question is whether we can get it done in the beginning of 2010, whether we can get it done at the end of 2010. There's still some details that need to be worked out."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
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