Time to Move on FTAs
Congress is showing signs of waking up on trade. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had to listen last week to a chorus of senators saying that its time to finally implement the free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. The White House may not have noticed that the European Union, among others, has redoubled its efforts to negotiate new FTAs – and that the United States is idly standing by while its competitors win advantages over American exporters. And, more astounding, some of these senators appear to have realized that exports create or maintain jobs in their states! Will wonders never cease.
Baucus & Grassley Get It. Obama & Kirk Don't
The occasion was Ambassador Kirk’s testimony about the Obama Administration’s trade agenda, which merely paid lip service to the three stillborn FTAs while pandering to organized labor and other groups seeking to use the FTAs for non-trade purposes. Senator Max Baucus, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee, started in by arguing that the Congress “should approve the trade agreements that we have already negotiated and signed.“ He added: “we must … recognize the consequences of further delay. Our competitors are signing trade deals that will put our farmers and businesses at a competitive disadvantage unless we act.“ Senator Baucus noted the EU’s free trade agreement with South Korea, and Canada’s agreement with Colombia.
It is less surprising that Senator Charles Grassley chimed in for the Republicans: “South Korea has already concluded a trade agreement with the European Union, and Colombia has reportedly just done the same. Such erosion to global US competitiveness concerns me … . This delay in implementation hurts US credibility around the world, not just economically, but geopolitically as well.”
The Obama Administration seems stuck in the rut of not liking agreements negotiated during the Bush Administration, and they keep talking about reopening agreements to make them “perfect”: meaning forcing Koreans to buy American cars and allowing U.S. unions to determine labor policy in other countries. There is clear bipartisan support for the FTAs in the Senate. Go for it, Mr. Obama!
