Rice, Clinton clash over Korea-US FTA
Chosun Ilbo | 11 October 2007
Rice, Clinton Clash Over Korea-U.S. FTA
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice clashed with Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democratic Party presidential contender, on the congressional ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Tuesday.
Speaking before the Organization of American States on Tuesday, Rice warned that failure to pass the deal would send the wrong signal to Asian allies. “We fully support our free trade agreement with Korea, and we look to Congress to approve it.” She said the overriding question is what signal such a failure would send “to friend and foe, ally and enemy alike.” She added, “In that regard, how would a failure be interpreted by a long-standing ally like Korea, which has concluded its own FTA with us?” The secretary apparently voiced displeasure at U.S. politicians’ use of the Korea-U.S. FTA for campaign purposes for the presidential election next year.
But Clinton continues to slam the trade pact. In interviews with the U.S. media including the USA Today, Clinton said the benefits of North American FTA (NAFTA), for one, had gone to the wealthy and cost jobs for working people. She demanded the reevaluation of trade treaties the U.S. clinched with other countries in the past and the postponement of ratification of the FTA treaties.
With a firm eye on the support of labor unions, which oppose free trade pacts, Clinton denounced not only the Korea-U.S. trade deal but also NAFTA, which was signed by her own husband, former president Bill Clinton. It seems the Korea-U.S. FTA is unlikely to be ratified by Congress before the tenure of President George W. Bush is out. However, Claude Barfield, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, predicted that the trade treaty will be approved at Congress under the next government.
