US: Congress urged to expedite process for Korea FTA's ratification

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The Obama administration Wednesday urged Congress to begin consultations with administration officials for early ratification of the pending free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk dismissed calls by some Republicans to present the Korea FTA together with similar deals with Colombia and Panama.

"We are now in a position we can have a conversation with Congress on when would be the best time to move forward with Colombia, with Korea and very soon, we hope, to be in that same position with Panama," Kirk said. "So that timing will be driven by other conversations with Congress."

Kirk made his remarks while announcing a new deal with Colombia on labor rights, which have served as a stumbling block to the deal's congressional approval since its signing in 2007.

Washington and Bogota have agreed on an "Action Plan Related to Labor Rights that will lead to greatly enhanced labor rights in Colombia and clear the way for the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement to move forward to Congress," Kirk said.

Congress has not yet begun consultations on the Korea FTA with administration officials, seen as a precondition for the administration's submission of the deal to Congress.

Some Republican congressmen threaten to block the deal unless it is submitted concurrently with deals with Colombia and Panama.

"It has never been the administration's insistence that the three agreements be considered as a package," Kirk said. "In fact, we have advocated since we concluded the agreements with Korea that that agreement should move forward. And we have expressed our intent and desire that we were ready to engage Congress in the process as dictated by trade promotion authority to do that."

Washington struck a new deal with Seoul in December to address U.S. concerns over lopsided auto trade, the biggest hurdle to congressional approval.

The revised deal, yet to be submitted to Congress, calls for a delayed phase-out of auto tariffs, among others, in return for Washington's concessions on pork and medicine.

The Korea FTA was negotiated under the Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, which requires Congress to vote yes or no without amendments within 90 days of the deal's submission.

"There is no legal authority under trade promotion authority as it exists for Panama, Colombia and Korea to bundle in one vehicle and have a quote, unquote, 'omnibus trade bill' with one vote, if that's what you mean by 'package'," Kirk said.

Kirk has said the Obama administration will submit the Korea FTA first, and called on Congress to approve it "this spring" so as not to lag behind the European Union, which ratified a similar deal with Seoul set to take effect in July.

April 8^th, 2011

Source: The Korea Times