Trade deals move forward
Senate leaders promise to vote on agreements with three countries
WASHINGTON – Senate leaders announced a breakthrough on long-stalled trade agreements with South Korea and other U.S. trading partners, promising swift votes on one of President Barack Obama’s top priorities after Congress returns next month from its August recess.
The accord comes at a time of growing economic uncertainty in the U.S. as growth stalls, unemployment remains high and the president and members of both parties struggle to show voters that jobs and the middle class are their top priority.
Proponents say the trade agreements – with Colombia and Panama as well as South Korea – will deliver as much as $14 billion to the U.S. economy and add more than 250,000 jobs. But the benefits may not be seen immediately because it will take time for many U.S. companies to take advantage of the increased access to foreign markets.
In the short term, the benefits may lie more with the three trading partners, especially South Korea, which is expected to move quickly to capitalize on the opportunity to expand its existing penetration of the U.S. auto market.
The South Korean agreement is seen as the most substantial of the three pacts, opening overseas markets not only to U.S. exports, including popular American beef, but also to professional services in law, finance and accounting.
It also deepens U.S. diplomatic ties with the Asian region at a time of when China is an ascendant political force, experts said.
With the agreement on timing, the trade pacts are now one of the key economic initiatives likely to move through the divided Congress this fall and the business community hailed the tentative progress.
“These trade agreements are one of the best ways to create jobs in America now,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber. “But time is short, and further delays are unacceptable.”
Most members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, have supported the proposed trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama, but the pacts had stalled over a related employment assistance program for U.S. workers who lose their jobs to trade.
Obama and congressional Democrats had sought to include an extension of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program alongside the trade pacts. The $575 million job training program expired in February, but faced growing opposition from Republicans over its cost.
Under the framework for moving to a vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, agreed to decouple the two issues, holding separate votes.
While the worker assistance program is likely to pass in the Democratic Senate, it faces difficulties in the GOP-controlled House.