Trade

Lawmakers won’t move Korean trade deal until other pacts are ready

by Vicki Needham - 03/09/11 4:11 PM ET

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) suggested Wednesday that lawmakers will delay taking up the Korea free trade agreement if the Obama administration doesn’t fast-track the Colombia and Panama accords.

Baucus said he has spoken with some House lawmakers and they’ve agreed hold up ratification of the South Korean agreement, which is ready for Congress to consider, until the Obama administration either packages or lines up all three pending agreements closely together this year for ratification.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urged lawmakers to move forward on the Korean agreement, which he called “economically compelling,” while U.S. officials finalize negotiations on Colombia and Panama.

“We’re closer than many of you think we are on completing these,” he told lawmakers during a hearing before the panel.

Kirk said there has been “much more engagement” and “we hope to wrap up quickly” the outstanding issues with the Panama and Colombia agreements.

Democrats and Republicans on the panel pressed Kirk to pick up the pace and complete the deals they say will give U.S. businesses and farmers a chance to be globally competitive.

“The time is here, the time is now, in fact, the time is past to ratify Colombia. We’re losing market share hand over fist,” Baucus said. “It’s a no-brainer, I just hope we get this passed quickly.”

On the House side, House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has set a July 1 deadline for the agreements to arrive on Capitol Hill, while House Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.) has said the agreements need to be considered individually.

Kirk reiterated that the administration won’t compromise on outstanding issues surrounding worker protections for workers in those countries and that the trade deals “need to advance broader American principles” and go beyond market access.

{mosads}While the U.S. isn’t attempting to apply its own strict labor laws on their future trading partners, the administration is seeking “internationally accepted rights” and a “discreet window of time to complete that” before finishing work on the agreements, he said.

“You can’t look at one side of the equation,” Kirk told lawmakers. “I have outlined the issues and set a goal of having them done this year.”

Negotiations with Colombian officials, who are in Washington this week, and President Juan Manuel Santos are encouraging and it “feels like we’re pushing on an open door,” Kirk said.

Still, Senate Finance ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) blasted the administration for “foot-dragging” and told Kirk that “my team is ready to begin technical discussions on all three agreements today.”

Hatch argued that the remaining issues in the trade agreements aren’t that complex and that Panama and Colombia have shown a willingness to make the needed changes and U.S. officials need to get the deals completed.

“When do you reach a point where you recognize what they’ve done?” Hatch asked.

“We know the parameters of most of issues, why can’t we do all three, it’s not that complex,” he said. “I think the administration is being run into the ground.”

Hatch vowed that “Congress must act with or without presidential leadership.”

Kirk suggested that in the meantime, lawmakers pass the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA), which helps U.S workers who’ve lost their jobs because of foreign trade, and Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA), as part of an effort to stop the illegal narcotics trade, for as long as a time as possible, which he says is a way to help Colombia.

The House and Senate have discussed both measures but let them expire last month. Some Republicans have said they won’t pass the TAA or ATPA until the administration has all three trade agreements ready.

Tags Max Baucus Orrin Hatch