US Senators press Obama on trade pacts

June 2, 2010

AFP

Sixteen Republican US Senators pressed President Barack Obama on Tuesday set a target date for achieving congressional ratification of stalled trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

"Ratification by the Congress of the Korean, Colombian and Panamanian FTAs (free trade agreements) would be the catalyst for significant economic growth and job creation in the United States," they wrote Obama in a letter.

The group, led by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, urged Obama to give all three countries "a well defined and finite list" of things they must do to clear hurdles to the accords.

"Given Congress's role in approving these agreements, we also request you propose a specific timeline for the enactment of these FTAs," the lawmakers wrote Obama.

All three accords were signed under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush but hit snags as officials moved to address various issues, including market access and labor union rights.

South Korea is the US's seventh-largest trading partner, Colombia is its largest agricultural market in South America and Panama is a center of global commerce.

The US International Trade Commission estimates that the three free-trade agreements, once implemented, would increase annual US exports of goods by about 12 billion dollars.

The senators warned Obama of slipping US market share to the benefit of the European Union and other competitors, like Brazil, saying "the impact of our inaction is already being felt."

"The choice is clear. In a time of diminished prosperity, it is in the United States's best interest to stimulate our economy by opening new foreign markets to our nation's products and services, creating countless jobs," they wrote.

The rebuke came amid deep US voter anger at stubbornly high unemployment months before November mid-term election to decide control of the US Congress.

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