Kirk Says South Korea Pact Will Win Strong Support in Congress
March 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk talks about free-trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia. Kirk, speaking with Bloomberg's Peter Cook in Washington, also discusses China's trade policy. (Source: Bloomberg)
Congress is likely to pass a long- stalled free-trade agreement with South Korea with strong backing, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said.
“Korea has more broad-based support than any free-trade agreement we have done in recent years,” Kirk said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington. “We are confident it should get very strong support when Congress moves that forward.”
President Barack Obama’s administration reworked provisions in the pact in response to the concerns of automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) and the United Auto Workers union. The changes picked up support for the deal from previous critics, such as Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat.
The Korea deal is forecast by the U.S. International Trade Commission to boost U.S. goods exports by $11 billion a year, making it the biggest U.S. free-trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. Obama hasn’t sent the legislation implementing the South Korea accord to Congress for approval yet, and Levin today in Washington called on the administration to do so “immediately.”
Republicans such as Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah say they will hold out for action on the deals with Panama and Colombia if Obama tries to move the pact with Korea on its own. While Levin said today that the deals shouldn’t be linked, Kirk said he is pushing ahead talks with Colombia, trying to garner further labor protections so that deal can be approved as well.
“We’re making good progress,” Kirk said of the talks with Colombia.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net; Eric Martin in Washington at emartin21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net
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