The Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), originally signed on June 30, 2007 is one of three FTAs that have been concluded but not yet implemented by Congress.\u00a0 The other two are the Colombia FTA, signed on November 22, 2006 and the Panama FTA, signed on June 28, 2007.<\/p>\n
Because of shared authorities on trade and differences of views between successive Congresses and presidents, these FTAs, struck with countries that the United States counts as friends and allies, have been stuck in a procedural no-man\u2019s land between the White House and Congress.<\/p>\n
On December 4, 2010, President Obama announced that he had obtained supplemental concessions from the South Korean government on autos significant enough to justify his decision to transmit an implementing bill to Congress. This gave KORUS renewed political life.<\/p>\n
As the 112th Congress began, the new Speaker, John Boehner, said that the House intends to move on all three trade pacts.\u00a0 On January 25, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to consider all three FTAs, setting the stage for consideration of these agreements by Congress in the coming months.<\/p>\n
The agreement is an integral part of the President Obama\u2019s efforts to increase opportunities for U.S. businesses, farmers and workers through improved access for their products and services in foreign markets and supports the President\u2019s National Export Initiative goal of doubling of U.S. exports in five years.<\/p>\n
According to the Fact Sheet <\/a>by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the agreement will promote the further integration of the U.S. and Korean economies and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in the world\u2019s 12th largest economy.\u00a0 The agreement is an important demonstration of the Administration\u2019s advancement of free and fair trade and will complement the Obama Administration\u2019s efforts to expand business opportunities for the United States in Asia, including through such initiatives as the Trans Pacific Partnership.\u00a0 The estimated tariff cuts alone in the U.S.-Korea trade agreement will increase exports of American goods by $10 billion to $11 billion.\u00a0 The Agreement would eliminate tariffs on over 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods within five years.<\/p>\n The U.S.-Korea trade agreement will open Korea\u2019s $560 billion services market to highly competitive American companies \u2013 supporting jobs for American workers in sectors ranging from delivery and telecommunications services to education and health care services.<\/p>\n The U.S-Korea trade agreement creates new opportunities for U.S. manufacturers seeking to export to Korea in two ways: first, it eliminates tariffs, or duties, charged when U.S. exports come into Korea; and it addresses non-tariff barriers to U.S. exports \u2013 whether by eliminating barriers that are in place today, or by establishing a framework to prevent non-tariff barriers from arising in the future.\u00a0 Under the agreement, U.S. exports of aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, electrical\/electronic goods, metals, scientific equipment, and shipping and transportation equipment will gain duty-free access to the Korean market.\u00a0 Beyond tariffs, the agreement establishes strong new rules on how Korea will develop regulations applied to U.S. exports, and contains state-of-the-art protections on intellectual property rights (IPRs).<\/p>\n The U.S.-Korea trade agreement creates new opportunities for U.S. farmers, ranchers and food processors seeking to export to Korea\u2019s 49 million consumers, giving American agricultural producers more market access in two ways \u2013 by getting rid of tariffs charged when U.S. exports come into Korea, and by laying out a framework to tackle other barriers to U.S. exports \u2013even those that might arise in the future.\u00a0 Tariff eliminations on Korea\u2019s existing 40 percent tariff will further boost beef exports, saving an estimated $1,300 per ton of beef imported to Korea \u2013 savings that would total $90 million annually for U.S. beef producers at current sales levels.<\/p>\n The U.S.-Korea agreement expands U.S. firms\u2019 access to the $100 billion Korean government procurement market, creating new opportunities for exporters, and ensuring that U.S. firms will get to bid on contracts on a level playing field with Korean firms. At the same time, the agreement\u2019s government procurement rules ensure that certain American business sectors \u2013 such as small businesses or textile companies bidding on Department of Defense procurement \u2013 do not face foreign competition for key government contracts here at home.<\/p>\n The agreement\u2019s procurement obligations also maintain American environmental and labor safeguards.\u00a0 The Korean government will be held to the same level of accountability for meeting labor commitments as it is for meeting other commitments in the agreement.\u00a0 Under the agreement, the Korean government \u2013 which has already demonstrated a significant commitment to environmental protections \u2013 will be held to the same level of accountability for meeting environmental commitments as it is for meeting other commitments in the agreement.<\/p>\n This all sounds great, but the \u201cdevil is in the details.\u201d\u00a0 In the February 18, 2011 issue, Richard McCormack, publisher of the Manufacturing & Technology News, wrote, \u201cIf American are interested in determining on their own if the Korea Free Trade Agreement will benefit he U. S. economy (and their own job prospects) good luck!\u00a0\u00a0 He quoted a few paragraphs from the six-page addendum released by U. S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on February 10, 2011 as an example of how incomprehensibly worded this agreement is written.\u00a0 Check it out for yourself at http:www.ustr.gov\/webtm_send\/2557.<\/p>\n According to research by the Economic Policy Institute<\/a>, KORUS\u00a0 \u201cwill increase the U. S. trade deficit by about $16.7 billion and displace about 159,000 American jobs within the first seven after it takes effect.\u201d\u00a0 Robert E. Scott noted, \u201cThe USIT has a history of vastly underestimating the negative impacts that free trade agreements have on the U. S. economy.\u00a0 In 1999, it estimated that China\u2019s entry into the World Trade Organization would increase the U. S. trade deficit with Chin by only $1.0 billion, and have no significant impact on U. S. employment.\u00a0 In fact, the U. S. trade deficit with China increased by $185 billion between 2001 (when China entered the WTO) and 2008, and 2.4 million U. S. jobs have been displaced or lost.\u201d<\/p>\n The following list details the reasons why the publisher and staff writers of the Economy in Crisis<\/a> website opine that this trade agreement would be disastrous for America:<\/p>\n\n