US-South Korea fail to agree trade deal

[pampango]

Source: Financial Times

The US and South Korea have failed to reach a promised agreement to finalise a high-profile bilateral trade pact, disappointing hopes that the summit of the Group of 20 richest nations in Seoul would deliver anything but a rhetorical commitment to liberalising trade.

The pact, signed but not ratified in 2007, has provoked narrow but determined opposition from within the US car industry, jeopardising its chances of passing through the US Congress. Ford and Chrysler, backed by the Union of Automobile Workers, argue that the deal gives them insufficient access to the Korean market.

US beef producers have also complained about their inability to sell into Korea, though complaints have moderated as American farmers have taken a less confrontational tack. Mr Lee defended Seoul’s trade policy against charges of unfairness, saying that the US bilateral deficit with Korea was shrinking.

A pact would face an uncertain fate in the newly elected US Congress, where Republicans took back the House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections. Republicans tend to be more supportive of trade deals than Democrats, but the situation is complicated by the election of many Tea Party Republican candidates whose rhetoric is often isolationist.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a38081c-ed72-11df-9085-00144feab49a.html#axzz14yiY05td

[speppin]

1. good. the unions are working this deal.

Trade-deal efforts fail in Seoul


By CAROL E. LEE | 11/11/10 1:08 AM Updated: 11/11/10 5:44 AM
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1110/work_in_progress_57d53b30-89cd-4e26-ab17-e03a4925e2ac.html


President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak could not agree on a trade-deal between the two countries. AP Photo Close

SEOUL – President Barack Obama was unable to achieve one of the primary economic goals he set ahead of the G-20 summit, announcing Thursday that U.S. and South Korean officials could not reach an agreement on a renewed free trade pact.

“We have asked our teams to work tirelessly in coming days and weeks to get this completed and we are confident that they will do so,” Obama said during a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. “It could be a win for the overall partnership between our two countries.”

Obama said he wants a trade deal to be finalized “in a matter of weeks” and promised it would “create jobs and prosperity” in both the United States and South Korea.
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The lack of a deal is a blow for Obama, who at the last G-20 summit this past summer in Toronto said he would push to have one by the time he met with Lee in Seoul this week.

[pattmarty]

2. Good. What we DO NOT need is more of these "free trade" deals.

[Creative]

3. Actually, what we need are REAL free trade deals.

In ain't free trade if it takes 1700 pages (NAFTA) to define it.