By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
A progressive think tank in Washington said U.S. President-elect Barack Obama should lend support to the ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) ― but with strings attached.
The Washington-based Center for American Progress said in a recent policy proposal that Obama should support the KORUS FTA, but added South Korea should also do its part by lowering what the group described as trade barriers against U.S. automobiles. It also asked Korea to lower its barriers so that more U.S. beef could be sold on the Korean domestic market.
The group did not say whether renegotiations or new side agreements would be needed to reach these goals. The center is a top policy think tank for the U.S. Democratic Party. Other major liberal think tanks in Washington include the Brookings Institution and the Center for New American Security.
In its policy proposal, the think tank expressed concern about the unintended side effects of global trade. It said recent trade patterns have not been good for many American workers. The group urged the new Obama administration to protect U.S. workers by tackling the trade imbalance problem with Asia.
``The Office of the United States Trade Representative and the new administration should focus intently on our country's slipping trade position in Asia,'' according to the Center for American Progress
The think tank also called on the President-elect and U.S. trade officials to ``engage vigorously with China to redress the global economic imbalances exacerbated by China's export-led growth and currency arrangements.''
``Over the past 50 years, trade and economic integration with the rest of the world generated substantial economic and foreign policy benefits for the United States, yet not all Americans shared in the economic benefits,'' it stated. ``Now, with the rise of emerging market competitors and the outsourcing or off-shoring of production, rising imports are causing job losses and wage declines, resulting in increasing insecurity for American workers at all but the highest skill levels.''
Meanwhile in Seoul, Lee Hye-min, Korea's deputy minister for trade and chief FTA negotiator, has been urging lawmakers to quickly ratify the KORUS FTA. He said some U.S. lawmakers may want to renegotiate the deal, but added that if Washington were to actually request reworking the agreement, that would go against the usual protocol for international trade negotiations.
In a column that appeared on Cheong Wa Dae's internet home page, the chief FTA negotiator stated that ``if the United States were to ask to renegotiate what it has already agreed to and signed, that would break international protocol."
He said, ``such a move would seriously undermine Washington's credibility in other areas including negotiating for the Doha Development Agenda.'' But he acknowledged that is still a small chance that the new Obama administration would seek a new round of renegotiations next year, ``because it is true that during this year's U.S. presidential campaign, President-elect Obama did express his concern about the automobile trade imbalance between the two nations.''
He urged the National Assemblymen to take charge of this trade issue by quickly ratifying the measure.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his team of advisors have been expressing their concern about the trade imbalance between Korea and the United States. One particular focus has been what's been perceived as the lopsided automobile trade between the two nations.