International Herald Tribune
U.S. officials meet with skepticism in Congress over South Korean free trade agreement
The Associated Press
13 June 2007
WASHINGTON: Senior U.S. diplomatic and trade officials told a congressional panel Wednesday that a free trade agreement with South Korea is important for U.S. interests in Asia.
The message was met with skepticism by some Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who raised the possibility of potential losses of U.S. jobs and about a part of the agreement that Democrats said would allow North Korea to bypass U.S. sanctions.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia told members of Congress at a House of Representatives hearing that the agreement, which still needs to be approved by lawmakers in both countries, would improve prospects of U.S. companies in South Korea and establish a model for deals with other Asian countries.
"A successful FTA with South Korea could provide an important boost to U.S. efforts to remain an active economic presence in a strategically vital region," Bhatia told the members of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.
The deal, reached April 2 after 10 months of often contentious negotiations, would be the biggest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement, which linked Mexico, the United States and Canada more than a decade ago. It would be the largest such deal ever for South Korea.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who has been working closely with South Korea as the chief U.S. negotiator on nuclear talks with North Korea, said the deal was important for U.S. strategic interests.
"The impact of this FTA will go far beyond bilateral commercial benefits," Hill said. "It is a powerful symbol of the U.S.-South Korea partnership."
The chairman of the subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, spoke in dire terms of the pact's potential effects on the U.S. auto industry, historically centered in Detroit, Michigan. Sherman compared the free trade deal to the 1812 U.S. declaration of war against Britain, which led to the destruction of Detroit.
"We should be certain that we are not setting into motion a plan that will once again lead to the demise of Detroit," he said.
Sherman and other lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Don Manzullo, whose Illinois district has a Chrysler auto plant, said that though he supports free trade, he worried that the deal would leave in place barriers to trade for the automotive industry. Other lawmakers also expressed frustration that the agreement left in place protections for South Korean rice farmers.
The deal also has faced some opposition in South Korea from similar concerns about the loss of jobs. Workers at two South Korean automakers said this week they will stage partial strikes to protest the deal, which they worry would wreak long-term havoc on South Korea's manufacturing industry.
Sherman also complained that the language of the agreement might allow goods produced in a joint North-South industrial zone in the North Korean border town of Kaesong to be exported to the United States, despite sanctions.
"There is a Trojan horse in this deal," he said.
Both Bhatia and Hill emphatically denied that the deal would allow North Korean exports.
