Obama, Lee Express Hopes of Completing Trade Deal at G-20 Summit in Seoul
U.S. President Barack Obama
Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg
U.S. President Barack Obama.
U.S. President Barack Obama. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg
Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung Bak expressed hopes to use next week’s talks at the Group of 20 summit in Seoul to make progress on completing a free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea.
“If we can reach a satisfactory agreement on the key issues for American workers, we will have a deal,” the White House said in a statement yesterday. Lee, speaking to reporters in Seoul today, said he discussed the FTA when he telephoned Obama to talk about next week’s G-20 meeting in South Korea.
“There can be differences in each industry, but in general, the Korea-U.S. FTA will help create jobs in both countries and bring a positive effect for economic growth,” Lee said.
At the last G-20 summit, Obama set the goal of finishing a deal during his visit to Seoul, with plans to submit a reworked accord to Congress.
The free-trade pact, signed by the two countries in 2007, was never sent to lawmakers in the U.S. and has been reopened to address objections from industry and labor groups on issues including autos and beef. Agreements with Colombia and Panama also are pending.
In the current talks, the U.S. is urging that South Korea accept American car safety and emissions standards on vehicles sold in that country. Lee didn’t mention safety and emissions standards when he took questions from reporters in Seoul today.
Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers say South Korea has used tax and regulatory barriers to block sales of U.S. automobiles in that country.
Completing the accord with South Korea is central to the U.S. president’s goal of doubling exports over the next five years to help American manufacturing and agriculture.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has estimated that failure to enact the accord with the world’s 14th largest economy means the loss of $35 billion in exports and 345,000 jobs. South Korea signed a rival agreement with the European Union last year that calls for 99 percent of commerce to be duty free within five years.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net; Bomi Lim in Seoul at blim30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net; Bill Austin at billaustin@bloomberg.net
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