U.S. - South Korea Trade Pact Faces Partisan Wrangling

Image: South Korea, Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the Obama administration's top trade negotiator, has launched the administration's efforts to ratify a South Korea trade agreement. Trade agreements with Panama and Columbia have also been negotiated by the administration and Republican law-makers have stated that they will block the proposed South Korea deal unless all three international trade agreements are taken up by Congress together.

"Our No. 1 mission is to create jobs," Kirk said. "We firmly believe trade can be a valuable tool to help us get there."

"That timetable won't work for House Republicans," says Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), chairman of a key trade subcommittee. Brady and other House Republicans want the Colombian, Korean and Panamanian agreements all presented by July 1, 2011.

The proposed South Korea trade pact aims to lower tariff and trade barriers to boost export sales from the U.S. to South Korea by an annual $10 billion a year. This would support an additional 70,000 jobs in the U.S. Kirk has stated that he hopes that there will be "no delays," according to Associated Press reports.

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