ID :
201503
Tue, 08/16/2011 - 01:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/201503
The shortlink copeid
Obama urges ratification of FTA with S. Korea
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama called for Congress Monday to approve the outstanding free trade pact with South Korea.
Obama again took issue with the chronic imbalance in automobile trade between the two nations.
"We've put together a package that is going to allow us to start selling some Chevys and some Fords to Korea... we don't mind having Hyundais and Kias here, but we want some 'Made in America' stuff in other countries," he said at a town hall-style meeting in Minnesota. "That's something that Congress could do right now."
The president started a three-day bus tour to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois in an apparent bid to turn around his sagging popularity.
Congress returns on Sept. 6 after a summer break.
South Korea sends more than 400,000 vehicles, mostly Hyundais and Kias, to the United States each year and produces about 200,000 others at U.S. plants. The U.S. exports fewer than 10,000 vehicles to South Korea, according to official data.
Separately speaking to a group of lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said passing the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea is one of the most important goals for the administration.
"Among the top priorities on the president's jobs agenda is to pass our pending trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, as well as to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)," he said in a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization representing the black members of Congress, last week.
TAA, designed to help workers adversely affected by trade, has been a sticking point in efforts to ratify the FTAs.
The administration hopes to renew TAA along with the passage of the FTAs, but Republican lawmakers, disenchanted with the US$1-billion-a-year program, demand a separate approach.
Obama plans to submit the FTAs to Congress only when he is confident that both the FTAs and the renewal of TAA are guaranteed, according to officials.
Republican members of Congress have urged Obama to immediately send the FTAs without political considerations.
They emphasize that other nations are already gaining foreign trade advantage.
South Korea's FTA with the European Union took into effect in July. Canada and Colombia put their FTA into effect on Monday.
"I urgently call on the president to send the job-creating trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress without further delay," Dave Camp (R-MI), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.
Trade Subcommittee Chairman Keven Brady (R-TX) also said, "Because of inexcusable delay in Washington by those who fail to understand this fundamental fact, American workers and exporters now face the prospect of falling even further behind."
Obama again took issue with the chronic imbalance in automobile trade between the two nations.
"We've put together a package that is going to allow us to start selling some Chevys and some Fords to Korea... we don't mind having Hyundais and Kias here, but we want some 'Made in America' stuff in other countries," he said at a town hall-style meeting in Minnesota. "That's something that Congress could do right now."
The president started a three-day bus tour to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois in an apparent bid to turn around his sagging popularity.
Congress returns on Sept. 6 after a summer break.
South Korea sends more than 400,000 vehicles, mostly Hyundais and Kias, to the United States each year and produces about 200,000 others at U.S. plants. The U.S. exports fewer than 10,000 vehicles to South Korea, according to official data.
Separately speaking to a group of lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said passing the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea is one of the most important goals for the administration.
"Among the top priorities on the president's jobs agenda is to pass our pending trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, as well as to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)," he said in a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization representing the black members of Congress, last week.
TAA, designed to help workers adversely affected by trade, has been a sticking point in efforts to ratify the FTAs.
The administration hopes to renew TAA along with the passage of the FTAs, but Republican lawmakers, disenchanted with the US$1-billion-a-year program, demand a separate approach.
Obama plans to submit the FTAs to Congress only when he is confident that both the FTAs and the renewal of TAA are guaranteed, according to officials.
Republican members of Congress have urged Obama to immediately send the FTAs without political considerations.
They emphasize that other nations are already gaining foreign trade advantage.
South Korea's FTA with the European Union took into effect in July. Canada and Colombia put their FTA into effect on Monday.
"I urgently call on the president to send the job-creating trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress without further delay," Dave Camp (R-MI), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.
Trade Subcommittee Chairman Keven Brady (R-TX) also said, "Because of inexcusable delay in Washington by those who fail to understand this fundamental fact, American workers and exporters now face the prospect of falling even further behind."
