White House planning ’relentless’ campaign for FTAs: trade official
Yonhap 2008/01/10
White House planning ’relentless’ campaign for FTAs: trade official
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) — The White House is planning a "relentless" campaign this year to push Congress to approve pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea and Latin American nations, a senior U.S. trade official said Wednesday.
The goal is to persuade a reluctant Congress to pass the trade deals, Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Chris Padilla told Reuters in an interview.
"The administration is going to be relentless in pushing its free and fair trade agenda," he said.
South Korea and the U.S. signed the FTA in June last year, and under the Trade Promotion Authority, Congress is required to vote up or down on the agreement without seeking amendments. Lawmakers late last year approved the deal with Peru, and the Colombia deal is up next, in accordance with the order in which the FTAs were signed. The South Korea deal would be the last one, following Colombia and Panama.
The Democrats, who gained control of the Congress through general elections in November 2006, are generally skeptical about the notion of free trade. Some senior congressional members oppose the FTA with South Korea, arguing that it fails to level the playing ground in auto trade.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democratic presidential aspirant who proved to be a viable candidate with a victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, has cited the auto sector as her reason for opposing the Korea FTA. She introduced legislation to evaluate U.S. trade agreements every five years, to make sure they continue to benefit the American market and workers.
The White House is meeting senior Democrats, including Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, twice a week to discuss ways of overcoming the opposition to the FTA.
