Korea FTA to be sent to Congress ahead of Colombia, Panama deals: State Dept.
Yonhap News, Korea
Korea FTA to be sent to Congress ahead of Colombia, Panama deals: State Dept.
By Hwang Doo-hyong
28 April 2011
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Yonhap) — The Obama administration Wednesday reiterated that it will soon submit to Congress a pending free trade pact with South Korea, saying similar deals with Panama and Colombia will be sent later.
"The Korean trade agreement has been negotiated," Jose Fernandez, assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs, told a Webcast held as part of the State Department’s "Conversations with America" video series. "It’s ready to go. So if the Korean one is ready to go, we’re going to move now. Panama is also ready go to, as well. We’ll move on that. And as soon as Colombia is ready, we’ll do that. But there’s no magic in sending all three of them together."
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk expressed hope last week that Congress will begin deliberating the Korea FTA early next month when the Easter recess ends.
He has said the Korea FTA will be sent to Congress separately from deals with Panama and Colombia, despite calls by some congressional Republicans to deliberate the three deals at the same time.
Kirk last week repeated calls on Congress to move "now" to ratify the Korea deal, saying similar deals with Colombia and Panama will be ready "in a matter of weeks."
An agreement with Panama took effect last week, allowing exchanges of tax information to prevent tax evasion in the Latin American state, often criticized for serving as a tax haven.
Washington also reached a new deal with Bogota early this month on labor rights, which have served as a stumbling block to congressional approval of the trade agreement since its signing in 2007.
Kirk has urged Congress to approve the Korea deal "this spring" so as not to lag behind the EU, which ratified a similar deal with Seoul set to take effect on July 1.
Fernandez repeated Kirk’s theme.
"Korea has signed an agreement with the EU providing for a trade agreement," he said. "Japan is interested in the trade agreement, the Chinese and others. Unless we’re able to get this thing passed quickly, at some point we’ll be at a disadvantage."
He took note of the fact that China has replaced the U.S. as the biggest trading partner for South Korea.
"We used to be Korea’s top trading partner," he said. "Today we are the third. We’ve got to get on that bandwagon soon, because that train is leaving the station, that region is going to continue to grow, and others aren’t standing still. We’ve got to get back to being No. 1 and then — with respect to being Korea’s top trading partner."
U.S. President Barack Obama has said the Korea FTA will support more than 70,000 jobs and help double U.S. exports within five years as the world’s biggest economy struggles to escape the recession that began in late 2008, the worst in decades.
The International Trade Commission has estimated that the Korea FTA would annually add $10 billion to $11 billion to the U.S. GDP and roughly $10 billion to U.S. exports to Korea.
"Think about Korea and the Korean trade agreement," Fernandez said. "You’re talking 10 to 11 billion dollars worth of new exports. That dwarfs both the Panama trade agreement and the Colombia trade agreement."
Seoul and Washington produced a revised deal in December to address U.S. concerns over lopsided auto trade, the biggest hurdle to congressional approval, by introducing a delayed phaseout of auto tariffs in return for Washington’s concessions on pork and medicine.
The Korea FTA, the biggest trade deal for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, was negotiated under the Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, which requires Congress to vote yes or no without amendments within 90 days of the deal’s submission.
