Rice says failure to approve Korea FTA will send ’disastrous signal’ to region
The Hankyoreh, Seoul
Rice says failure to approve Korea FTA will send ’disastrous signal’ to region
9 May 2007
Yonhap News, Washington - The top U.S. diplomat urged Congress to approve the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, saying failure to do so would send "a disastrous signal" to a region where the U.S. has to anchor peace and prosperity.
"Our trade agreement is an opportunity to help a key democratic ally in a rapidly changing Asia to lock in economic reform and the rule of law," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Business Council on Wednesday.
The agreement is an opportunity for the U.S. to anchor trans-Pacific visions for the 21st century, she said.
"At a time when some fear that American leadership in Asia is waning, not to approve our free trade agreement with Korea would be a disastrous signal to send," Rice said.
South Korea and the U.S. on March 31 concluded negotiations for an FTA that eliminates most tariff and non-tariff barriers to goods and services flowing between the two countries. It is the first U.S. trade pact with an Asian country, and is hailed as the biggest FTA since the North American Free Trade Agreement that went into effect in 1994. Economic experts predict up to US$29 billion in increased trade from the agreement.
Reactions to the FTA are divided in both countries, however, foreshadowing a battle to get the pact passed in their legislatures.
Colombia and Peru, who also have negotiated FTAs with the U.S., have been calling on Washington to pass the trade pacts.
"For six decades, fueled by U.S. leadership, the international trading system has been an engine of global transformation," Rice told the association of corporate executives.
"Still, this transformation has not reached everyone."
Free trade is a critical tool in promoting prosperity, good governance and social justice within states and a pillar in U.S. national security strategy, the secretary said.
"At a time when there are real challenges to democracy and peace in our hemisphere, it would be a huge mistake not to extend trade agreements to responsible, democratic governments like Panama, Peru and Colombia," she said.
"The same goes for Korea."
