Blooomberg | Nov 11, 2010
Obama, Lee fail to sign FTA, talks to resume after G-20 summit
President Barack Obama and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak failed to reach agreement on a free-trade accord and said talks will continue after the Group of 20 summit in Seoul.
“We decided that we need more to fine-tune details,” Lee told reporters at a joint press conference with Obama in Seoul today. Obama said that while an FTA will ultimately be “win, win” for everybody, the two countries must ensure it broad approval.
“If we rush something that can’t garner popular support that’s going to be a problem,” Obama said. “We think we can make the case, but we want to make sure that case is air tight.”
Obama has shied away from pushing trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in Congress amid high unemployment and opposition from some fellow Democrats and the party’s supporters in organized labor. Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union have led opposition to the trade accord, citing the need to address South Korea’s tax and regulatory regimes.
U.S. beef imports to South Korea have faced opposition since the Asian nation restricted shipments in 2003 when the U.S. discovered its first case of mad cow disease. Lee had to apologize in 2008 after agreeing to allow shipments, which triggered candlelight vigils by tens of thousands of South Koreans concerned about food safety.
Two-Way Trade
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had held talks with his South Korean counterpart since Monday in Seoul to revise the trade accord, signed in 2007 and never implemented. Obama said in June he would like to see the deal completed by his visit to Seoul for the summit, a commitment he reaffirmed in a Nov. 2 telephone conversation with Lee.
With almost $68 billion in two-way trade between the nations, the deal would have been the U.S.’s largest free-trade accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and may help Obama meet his goal of doubling American exports in five years.
