S. Korean minister pessimistic on U.S. vote on trade deal in August
Yonhap, Korea
S. Korean minister pessimistic on U.S. vote on trade deal in August
25 July 2011
SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korea’s top trade official said Monday that he was pessimistic about the prospects for a U.S. parliamentary vote in August on a long-stalled free trade pact between the two nations, citing frantic negotiations on a deal to raise the U.S. government’s debt limit.
"It is unfeasible for the U.S. Congress to approve it in August because of the negotiations to raise the U.S. federal government’s debt limit," Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon told reporters.
The South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA), signed in 2007, has yet to be ratified by the two countries’ legislatures. The deal was rewritten late last year to address U.S. concerns over auto trade, which Washington insisted was in South Korea’s favor.
The Seoul government has hoped to get its National Assembly to pass the deal in August while the U.S. had been working for its Congress to approve it next month.
However, work on the trade deal in the U.S. has been slowed because of the talks on Washington’s debt limit. Unless U.S. lawmakers reach a deal on a debt limit by the Aug. 2 deadline, the U.S. government will be defaulted.
