Is There There There?
I have been reluctant to post about President Obama’s trip to Asia because I haven’t seen much of a concrete nature on trade issues. The President and the heads of state he met with all seem to be playing nicey-nice on trade, but as Gertrude Stein famously said about Oakland, “There’s no there there.” Maybe I’m just in a sour mood.
U.S.-Korea FTA
Finally, in Seoul, we may see the glimmerings of something solid, though I have my doubts. President Obama and South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak said on Thursday that a free trade agreement “could” be reached between the two countries. That’s confusing. Agreement on an FTA was reached 2 1/2 years ago, but the FTA is still waiting to be ratified. It sounds like Obama and Lee may have decided to re-open the existing agreement to mollify U.S. auto exporters and Korean farmers, but I haven’t seen a clear statement of this. Any re-opening will delay the FTA for months, perhaps years.
President Lee made the point that Korea’s new FTA with the European Union will bring in more competition for American exporters, but time will tell if President Obama was listening. In view of the Korea-EU agreement, wouldn’t it make sense to implement the Korea-U.S. FTA and agree to tinker with it after the overall agreement is in place?
Mr. Obama did say that he will “challenge” the U.S. Congress to display more sophistication on trade issues, something on which I wish him the best of luck.
The U.S.-Korea FTA could have huge positive impact for U.S. exporters and jobs (see The Kim Chee Gets Deeper). Pity our politicians can’t see it.
