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
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