TRADE DEAL IN LIMBO

Abstract

BUSINESS GROUPS are calling on President Barack Obama to follow through on his recent pledge to win congressional approval of a long-delayed free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea. This pact has significant implications for chemical manufacturers and other big exporting industries. “Words must now be matched by actions,” says Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobby. “Expanding exports are our best ticket for creating jobs, reducing deficits, and restoring prosperity. The rest of the world is not standing around waiting for the U.S.” The U.S. and South Korea signed the world’s largest bilateral free-trade agreement in 2007. But the deal’s ratification has been put on hold in both nations because of strong opposition by some stakeholders, particularly automakers and labor unions in the U.S. The U.S. chemical industry, which shipped almost $5 billion worth of products to South Korea in 2008, ...