Yonhap News, Korea
Obama says he will submit Korea FTA to Congress as soon as possible
By Hwang Doo-hyong
7 July 2010
WASHINGTON, July 7 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Obama said Wednesday he will submit the pending free trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia to Congress as soon as possible so their implementation could help create jobs and double U.S. exports within five years.
"We're working to resolve outstanding issues with the free trade agreements with those key partners, and we're focused on submitting them as soon as possible for congressional consideration," Obama told the Presidential Export Council at the White House. "I've instructed U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to begin discussions to resolve outstanding issues with the pending Korean Free Trade Agreement before my visit to Korea in November, an agreement that will create new jobs and opportunity for people in both our countries."
The Korea FTA, signed under the Bush administration in 2007, has been pending as the Obama administration has yet to move for ratification, with the president citing an imbalance in auto trade and restricted shipment of beef.
Obama did not specify the timing for the presentation of the Korea FTA, but Robert Gibbs, White House spokesman, talked about the lame-duck session after the mid-term elections in November.
"I certainly believe that it's possible," Gibbs said while responding to the question if any of the three pending FTAs will be submitted to the lame-duck Congress.
"I think a priority is getting first and foremost the issues that we see with -- outstanding resolved. Until we do that, the process can't play itself out," Gibbs told reporters. "Obviously we have concerns about, and you heard the president enumerate those concerns, back even several years -- about some of the auto provisions in the South Korean free trade agreement that was submitted by the Bush administration."
Obama said last month that he will present the Korea FTA to Congress for ratification early next year if progress is made on auto and beef.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Toronto on the margins of the G-20 economic summit, Obama said he wanted Kirk to resume talks with South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon "to make sure that everything is lined up properly by the time that I visit Korea in November." Obama is due in Seoul in mid-November when South Korea hosts the next G-20 economic summit.
"And then, in the few months that follow that, I intend to present it to Congress," Obama said at the time, adding the Korea FTA's implementation will "create enormous potential economic benefits and create jobs here in the United States, which is my No. 1 priority."
U.S. officials said the ratification of the Korea FTA will not only quell international concerns over the Obama administration's commitment to free trade, but also help double U.S exports within five years, an ambitious plan launched by Obama in recent months to tackle the ongoing economic doldrums.
South Korean Trade Minister Kim recently expected talks will begin soon to address U.S. concerns over autos and beef, but added the talks should not be seen as renegotiations.
Kim said he was not sure if Washington will ask for shipments of U.S. beef from cattle more than 30 months old, saying that does not guarantee a rise in U.S. beef shipments because of increased concerns over safety.
South Korean officials said the beef from cattle more than 30 months old constituted less than 2 percent of the total U.S. beef shipments to South Korea before 2003 when Seoul banned the shipments because of an outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S.
President Lee allowed resumption of the U.S. beef just months after he took office in early 2008 amid weeks of street rallies in downtown Seoul opposing U.S. beef imports because of safety concerns.
U.S. beef exports to South Korea reached $216 million last year, making South Korea the fourth-biggest importer of U.S. beef products.
Kirk recently said that there are more than 700,000 Korean automobiles sold in the U.S. annually and fewer than 7,000 U.S. cars in South Korea.
South Korea says GM Daewoo -- the Korean unit of General Motors -- sold more than 110,000 units in 2008, representing 11.7 percent of the Korean auto market.
This compares with about 7 percent combined market share by Hyundai and Kia in the U.S., including hundreds of thousands of autos produced by Hyundai Motor's plant in Alabama.
Trade Minister Kim said last month that Seoul is ready to address any problems to be raised by the U.S. on non-tariff barriers or unfair trade practices, but added, "It is a wrong approach if the U.S. calls for a balance in the trade of certain products while ignoring the reality where the markets have different sizes and trade volumes."
U.S. officials have said they prefer a side agreement rather than revising the text of the FTA.
U.S. government statistics show the implementation of the FTA with South Korea, the seventh-largest trading partner for the U.S., will create 240,000 jobs and increase annual two-way trade by more than $20 billion, up from $83 billion.
The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea was $10.6 billion in 2009, down $2.8 billion from 2008, according to USTR figures.
South Korea says its trade surplus with the U.S. is far less than those enjoyed by China or Japan, and that the U.S. deficit would be easily neutralized after factoring in the U.S. surplus with South Korea in finance.
