Chamber's Donohue Pledges to Work With Obama on Trade, Jobs After Dispute

November 17, 2010

Bloomberg

Mark Drajem

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue will pledge today to work with President Barack Obama to push for trade deals and to create jobs, after two years during which the men were often at odds.

Donohue, who squared off against Obama over measures on climate change, health care and financial regulation, said the Chamber, the largest business lobbying group, is ready to cooperate.

“Since the elections, we’ve been asked whether the Chamber will be able to work with the administration and those in Congress who criticized us,” Donohue will say in a speech to his board this morning in Washington, according to excerpts provided in advance. “The answer is: Of course we can. It’s already happening.”

The Washington-based Chamber spent more than $30 million on outside advertising before this month’s election, supporting mostly Republican candidates. Democrats attacked that advertising, saying it was unfair for the Chamber to hide its roster of corporate donors.

The administration’s regulations are “suffocating the entrepreneurial spirit” and the effect on business is “pervasive, insidious and needs to be exposed,” Donohue said in remarks prepared for a speech in Iowa on Oct. 7.

Since the election, which brought Republican control of the House of Representatives and gains in the Senate, the tone on both sides has changed. Obama addressed an affiliate of the Chamber in Mumbai this month, and helped companies such as Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. sign deals in India. Donohue traveled to Seoul to try to help Obama seal a deal that would allow the long-stalled free-trade agreement with South Korea to be sent to Congress for approval.

While Obama failed to complete that deal in Seoul, Donohue will say today that he is optimistic an accord can be worked out.

“We didn’t quite get it done, but I am encouraged that the agreement will be completed soon,” Donohue plans to say.

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