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U.S. business lobby supports Obama's plans for KORUS FTA ratification
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 26 (Yonhap) -- The biggest U.S. business lobby Saturday welcomed President Barack Obama's plans to submit to Congress the pending free trade agreement with South Korea early next year for ratification.
"Following President Obama's commitment at the G-20 Summit today to act on the pending Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offered its full support for the White House's efforts to expand trade for the sake of creating jobs and keeping this economic recovery on track," Tami Overby, the chamber's vice president for Asia, said in a statement.
Obama said earlier that he wants U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to resume talks with South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon "to make sure that everything is lined up properly by the time that I visit Korea in November." Obama is due in Seoul in mid-November when South Korea hosts the next G-20 economic summit.
"And then, in the few months that follow that, I intend to present it to Congress," Obama told reporters after a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Toronto, Canada, on the margins of the G-20 economic summit.
U.S. officials said the ratification of the Korea FTA, signed in 2007, will not only quell international concerns over the Obama administration's commitment to free trade, but also help double U.S exports within five years, an ambitious plan launched by Obama in recent months to tackle the ongoing economic doldrum.
Obama has said he expects the Korea FTA, if implemented, will "create enormous potential economic benefits and create jobs here in the United States, which is my No. 1 priority."
Overby said, "Creating jobs is going to start with expanding trade. We stand ready to help the administration in resolving the outstanding issues in this agreement. The top priority for our country should remain putting Americans back to work and this agreement is the linchpin to continuing our economic recovery."
She cited a recent study, which says nearly 400,000 jobs in the United States are at risk if Congress fails to act on the pending agreement.
"This pact has the potential to be a model for other agreements across the Asia-Pacific region," Overby said. "This commitment to creating jobs by expanding trade with Korea also illustrates America's commitment to a geostrategic ally in Asia."
Studies show the implementation of the FTA with South Korea, the seventh-largest trading partner for the U.S., will create 240,000 jobs and increase annual two-way trade by more than US$20 billion, up from $83 billion.
U.S. officials have said they want to address concerns over lopsided auto trade and restricted shipment of U.S. beef before bringing the deal to Congress. They also prefer a side agreement rather than revising the text of the agreement involving complicated procedures.
Kim, the top South Korean trade negotiator, said last month during his visit here that his government was ready to address any problems to be raised by the U.S. on non-tariff barriers or unfair trade practices. "However, it is a wrong approach if the U.S. calls for a balance in the trade of certain products while ignoring the reality where the markets have different sizes and trade volumes," he said.
Kirk recently cited that there are more than 700,000 Korean automobiles sold in the U.S. and less than 7,000 U.S. cars in South Korea.
GM Daewoo -- the Korean unit of General Motors -- sold more than 110,000 units in 2008, representing 11.7 percent of the Korean auto market.
This compares with about 7 percent combined market share by Hyundai and Kia in the U.S., including hundreds of thousands of autos produced by Hyundai Motor's plant in Alabama.
U.S. beef exports to South Korea, meanwhile, reached US$216 million last year, making South Korea the fourth-biggest importer of U.S. beef products.
The government resumed imports of U.S. beef in late 2008 despite concerns among Koreans about mad cow disease, which led to months of street rallies. South Korea imports beef only from cattle less than 30 months old.
The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea was US$10.6 billion in 2009, down $2.8 billion from 2008, according to USTR figures.
President Lee has said that Korea's trade surplus with the U.S. is far less than that with China or Japan, and that the U.S. deficit would be easily neutralized after factoring in the U.S. surplus with South Korea in finance.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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