US Senate Finance Committee members agree on ratification of KOR-US FTA by summer
Arirang News, Korea
US Senate Finance Committee Members Agree on Ratification of KOR-US FTA by Summer
By Kang Seok-ho, Arirang News
27 May 2011
The US Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement on Thursday, and the members agreed on the need to ratify the trade pact before August this year.
Ranking Republican on the committee, Senator Orrin Hatch, said thatif Congress fails to ratify the three FTAs with Korea, Panama and Columbia before August, American businesses will be ceding foreign markets to the competition and he called on President Barack Obama to submit the ratification bill to Congress.
Democratic Senator John Kerry also said there should be no further delays in approving the Korea-US FTA as time spent waiting negatively affects American businesses.
Chairman of the committee Democratic Senator Max Baucus agreed on the need to pass the ratification billbut only on the condition that the Trade Adjustment Assistance or TAA program is renewed.
The program, which expired in February, provided job training as well as health and unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs due to the implementation of trade deals.
The committee also held a discussion on the potential of importing products made at the inter-Korean industrial complex in Gaesong.
Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said imports from Gaesong would violate the terms of the Korea-US FTA and also the sanctions Washington has imposed on North Korea, so such imports cannot occur.
