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A2 SKFTA DISAD
DA NON/UNIQ SKFTA PASSED RELATIONS HIGHEST EVER Hon, Strait Times Singapore, 10-14-11
(Chua Chin, The Strait Times, 10-14-11, US Bureau Chief US seals FTA with South Korea; Deal is biggest signed by America since Nafta and cements two nations' alliance" http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.baylor.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/ accessed 10-13-11)

Washington: The United States Has Sealed A Major Free Trade Agreement (Fta) With South Korea, Cementing An Economic And Strategic Alliance That Has Grown At A Surprising Pace In Recent Years. The Trade Deal, Which Won Final Passage In Congress As South Korean President Lee Myung Bak Began An Elaborate State Visit Here, Is The Biggest The Us Has Signed Since Its 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) Pact With Canada And Mexico, Which Created The World's Biggest Free Trade Zone At The Time. It Was Also The Most Significant Of The Three Ftas Passed On Wednesday By Congress, The Other Two Being Long-Delayed Trade Deals With Colombia And Panama. Various Estimates Suggest That The 'Korus Fta', As The Pact Is More Commonly Known, Could Double Us Exports To South Korea In Five Years And Help Support More Than 70,000 Jobs Here. With The Deal Primed To Make Most American Consumer And Industrial Goods Bound For Korea DutyFree, It Is Expected To Expand Us Exports To The East Asian Country By Us$10.9 Billion (S$14 Billion) In The First Year. For South Korea, The Deal Is Expected To Boost Its Gross Domestic Product By More Than Us$32.6 Billion Over The Next Decade And Help Create An Additional 520,000 Jobs. 'This Economic Alliance Will Promote Free Trade, And Send A Powerful Message All Around The World That South Korea And The United States Stand United In Our Commitment To Rejecting All Forms Of Protectionism, And That We Are Committed To Free, Open And Fair Trade,' Mr Lee Told Business Leaders At A Lunch Meeting On Wednesday. Washington Is Laying Out The Full Red-Carpet Treatment For The Visiting South Korean Leader This Week, Feting Him With An Official Welcome Ceremony At The White House And A Glamorous State Dinner, And Granting Him The Rare Honor Of Addressing A Joint Meeting Of Congress. Mr Lee Is Also Poised To Join President Barack Obama On A Rare Road Trip To Michigan, The Heart Of The Us Auto Industry, Where They Will Tour A General Motors Assembly Plant And Talk About How The Fta Will Open Up New Economic Opportunities. Asia Watchers Say This Bloom In UsSouth Korean Ties Is Somewhat Unexpected, And Attribute It To Seoul's Ability To Step Up To The Plate At A Time When Washington's Ties With Other Major Asian Powers Like Tokyo And Beijing Have Either Been Adrift Or Hit A Brick Wall. In Its First Year, For Instance, The Obama Administration Tried To Build Closer Ties With Beijing But Was Largely Rebuffed. Bilateral Relations Have Become Even Frostier Of Late, Following Us Arms Sales To Taiwan And An Escalating Row Over The Value Of The Chinese Currency. Meanwhile, Japan, Long The Linchpin Of Us Strategy In Asia, Continues To Be Preoccupied With Its Own Domestic Politics And The Triple Disaster Which Struck The Country Earlier This Year. 'The Environment In Asia Has Changed In Ways That Were Not As Helpful To Us Policy, But South Korea Kind Of Rose Up' In Recent Years And Successfully Delivered On Several Major Us Priorities, Said Dr Victor Cha, A Korea Expert At The Centre For Strategic And International Studies. Last Year For Instance, Seoul Sent 350 Troops To Afghanistan - Where The Us Is Fighting Its Longest War - To Protect Engineers Involved In Reconstruction Efforts. It Also Contributed Military Assets To Recent CounterPiracy Campaigns, And Backed The Us Administration's Stance On Climate Change Issues At International Summits. Mr Obama Also Shares The Tougher Line Mr Lee Has Taken Against North Korea, Particularly Following Recent Provocations In Which Pyongyang Sank A Warship And Fired Artillery Shells On A South Korean Island. 'The Us-Korea Relationship Today Is Extremely Close, And Is Probably At Its Highest Point In History,' Dr Cha Added. But The Jury Is Still Out On Whether The Current Momentum In Us-South Korea Ties Can Be Maintained. Although Both Countries Have Been Military Allies Since 1953, There Has Been No Shortage Of Volatility In Their Relationship As A Result Of Disputes Over Trade And Us Troop Presence. These Issues Could Well Flare Up Again When The Pro-Us Mr Lee, Who Is Limited To A Single Five-Year Term, Steps Down In Early 2013. Mr Obama Also Has A Tough Re-Election Battle On His Hands. Dr Michael Green, Who Served As A Senior Asia Adviser In The George W. Bush Administration, Pointed Out That Many Foreign Policy Watchers Were Similarly Bullish About The Us-Japan Alliance During Then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Tenure, Only To See Ties Cool Significantly After Mr Koizumi Stepped Down In 2006. 'So, Nothing Is Written In Stone In Terms Of Solidarity Between Allies. There's A Certain Volatility,' Said Dr Green. But There Are Hopes That The Korus Fta Will Act As An Anchor Of Sorts By Deepening Mutual Trade And Economic Ties. Bilateral Trade Reached Us$90 Million Last Year. Mr Obama, Speaking At An Official Welcome Ceremony For Mr Lee At The White House Yesterday, Said: 'The Alliance Between The Us And The Republic Of Korea Is Stronger Than It Has Ever Been. 'With Our Landmark Trade Agreement, We Would Bring Our Nations Even Closer, Creating New Jobs For Both Of Our People, And Preserving Our Edge As Two Of The Most Dynamic Economies In The World.'

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SKFTA PASSED LANDERS DALLAS MORNING NEWS 10-13-11

(Jim, Washington Bureau, The Dallas morning news, Congress OKs trade pacts with three nations http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.baylor.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/ accessed 10-13-11) WASHINGTON - Congress cut through years of trade suspicions Wednesday by approving free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. All three countries rank among the top 25 trading partners of Texas, and supporters of the deals say they will benefit the state's economy. "With its ability to reach beyond a weak-performing national economy and tap into a global economy, both in the commodity boom and for manufactured goods, exports have been a big part of the Texas rebound," said Bill Gilmer, a vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and head of the bank's El Paso office. Texas firms exported $207 billion of goods last year, and with competitive prices for energy-intensive goods like refined oil products and petrochemicals, Texas exports are booming in 2011 as well. The trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama bind the partners to gradually eliminate tariffs on imports. They were negotiated during the administration of President George W. Bush, but they stalled once Democrats with strong labor support won control of the House in the 2006 elections. Democrats lost the House in 2010, but President Barack Obama refused to submit the agreements to Congress until the three countries made more concessions and until Republicans agreed to fund retraining for workers displaced by trade. After one last evening of debate about jobs gains or losses, labor rights and Panama's reputation as a tax haven, the three trade pacts passed the House on separate votes: 262-167 for Colombia, 300-167 for Panama, and 278-151 for South Korea. Senate approval took place later as expected Wednesday night. Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, the U.S. trade representative, met with audiences across the country to hear concerns about trade - most centered on the loss of manufacturing jobs to other nations exporting goods to U.S. markets. He also led negotiations to widen South Korea's market for U.S. automakers and improve protections for Colombian labor organizers. Republicans complained that the deals were delayed far too long and that U.S. companies meanwhile lost market share to competitors such as the European Union, which implemented its own trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia. "We can't just buy American, we have to sell American across the world," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands. "It's embarrassing it has taken four years to bring this to the floor." Biggest since NAFTA The South Korean pact is the largest approved by Congress since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. South Korea has an economy somewhat smaller than Texas'. It ran a $10 billion trade surplus with the United States last year, when two-way trade was $89 billion. Texas exports to South Korea were worth $6.44 billion. South Korea is the Dallas area's second-biggest trading partner (China is first). Most of that trade is related to semiconductors and other information technology. Although exports to South Korea of Texas computers and electronic products have soared in the last decade, the free trade agreement is not likely to provide an immediate boost, since those goods are already free of tariffs. But supporters say it may increase investment and collaboration in those fields, which are already generating jobs in Texas. Samsung Austin Semiconductor employs more than 1,600 workers at a fabrication plant that, when complete, is expected to be a $9 billion investment. Several South Korean companies have offices in the Dallas area and participate in a $14 million project for research and commercialization of semiconductor materials at the University of Texas at Dallas. The project is funded by the South Korean government and Gov. Rick Perry's Emerging Technology Fund. "Once the FTA [free trade agreement] has made it, then definitely it helps us to bring some more collaboration work between the two parties," said Jiyoung Kim, a UTD associate professor of material sciences and engineering. Trade imbalance Opponents of the trade deals pointed to the imbalance between South Korean and U.S. trade and said the pact would make that worse. South Korea exported half a million cars to the U.S. market last year, while U.S. automakers exported only 7,400 to Korea. Still, South Korea's concessions last fall won the pact endorsements from Ford, GM and Chrysler as well as the United Auto Workers union. Several members of Congress Wednesday said the vote on the trade agreements demonstrated Congress' determination to act on America's high unemployment. Cautious on claims Obama and Kirk have been cautious in their jobs claims for the trade pacts, saying the South Korean deal could add 70,000 U.S. jobs and boost U.S. exports by $10 billion. South Korean President Lee Myoung-bak, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington Thursday for a state visit, has cited reports that the trade pact will create 350,000 new jobs in South Korea. The House also approved a trade adjustment assistance bill to extend training and other benefits to workers who lose their jobs because of imports. Gilmer noted that, under previous versions of the law, El Paso received more aid than any other city in the nation following enactment of the trade pact with Mexico. "We used to be the major producer of men's slacks, and that was simply wiped out," Gilmer said. "In retrospect, what was lost to Mexico, Mexico has now lost to China. "If Mexico's now lost that, we really didn't have much hope of keeping it, either." The Mexican economy has moved up to more value-added manufacturing for goods such as autos and medical devices, which cushioned the loss of apparel jobs, Gilmer said.

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SKFTA PASSED MARTIN AND MCQUILLIEN BLOOMBERG NEWS 10-13-11

(Eric, William, Bloomberg News, 10-13-11, Congress Approves Biggest U.S. Trade Agreement Since 1994 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-13/south-korea-colombia-panama-trade-pacts-reached-under-bush-pass-congress.html accessed 10-13-11) The U.S. Congress cleared free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, bringing an end to years of stalemate and offering what supporters said was the biggest opportunity for exporters in decades. The bills go to President Barack Obama, who spent two years seeking to broaden Democratic support for pacts revised from initial agreements reached by his predecessor. The South Korea deal, the biggest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, removes duties on almost two-thirds of American farm exports, and phases out tariffs on more than 95 percent of industrial and consumer exports within five years. Yesterdays step may diminish concern that the U.S. will turn to protectionism amid unemployment that exceeds 9 percent and an Oct. 11 Senate vote designed to punish China for an undervalued yuan. The approval may also give impetus to Obamas trans-Pacific trade initiative, which Japan, the worlds third- largest economy, is considering joining. This is a welcome development showing policy makers can be farsighted and come to an agreement that is positive for all parties involved in the long run in terms of GDP growth, said Robert Subbaraman, Hong Kong-based chief economist for Asia excluding Japan at Nomura Holdings Inc. Theres been a lot of market disappointment in policymaking this year.

SKFTA PASSED AP 10-12-11 (Associated Press, 10-12-11, Congress approves free trade agreement with South Korea, first of 3 trade deals
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/worldbusiness/house-approves-free-trade-agreement-with-south-korea-senate-to-followsuit-later-wednesday/2011/10/12/gIQA0wD2fL_story.html accessed 10-13-11)

WASHINGTON Congress has approved a free trade agreement with South Korea, the worlds 13th largest economy and the U.S. seventh largest trading partner. The House and Senate voted in quick succession Wednesday to approve the agreement. The two chambers also were voting to approve free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. The U.S. and South Korea had nearly $80 billion in trade last year, with South Korea commanding a $10 billion surplus. The Obama administration predicts that by lowering tariffs on U.S. goods sold in South Korea the agreement will nearly erase that trade gap and support 70,000 American jobs. The agreement was signed during the last Bush presidency, but President Barack Obama did not submit it to Congress until after renegotiating to get better access for U.S. autos in Korea.