Agricultural News
Obama Wants FTA Vote
Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:29:38 CDTU.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk won’t say which deal will pass first, but he says President Obama wants Congress to approve at least one of the three pending free trade deals by the end of the year. Of the three pending agreements between the United States and Korea, Columbia and Panama, progress is being reported in the Panama agreement. Kirk told Bloomberg news - the administration is making good progress on resolving labor and tax issues with Panama.
Meanwhile, Seoul would like Obama to move its agreement for ratification by this summer due to the political sensitivity of the November mid-term elections. The Obama administration is trying to find ways to address lopsided auto trade and limited shipments of U.S. beef so it can push ahead with the Korea FTA's ratification.
The 2010 Trade Barrier Report estimates - the reduction of Korean tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on goods alone would add 10-billion to 12-billion dollars to annual U.S. Gross Domestic Product and around 10-billion to annual merchandise exports to Korea.
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