President Obama’s recently announced, renegotiated U.S. – South Korea free trade agreement holds strong potential to energize the U.S. economy over the next few years and decades.
Democrats should be pleased because this, Obama’s first trade agreement, appears to adequately address liberal concerns on U.S. trade policy as:
- Environmental protections
- Protection of workers’ fundamental rights
- Sufficient, credible balance of trade advantages for U.S. businesses
- Jobs creation opportunities for U.S. businesses
Said President Obama last week, “The deal that we’ve struck includes strong protections for workers’ rights and environmental standards–and as a consequence, I believe it’s a model for future trade agreements that I will pursue.”
Industries expected to be among top beneficiaries of this agreement with South Korea, a nation with 49 million residents, include auto, agricultural and financial services.
The United Auto Workers and United Food and Commercial Workers unions support Mr. Obama’s U.S. – Korea Free Trade Agreement, although the AFL-CIO and United Steelworkers’ unions believe that this agreement still falls “short of protecting the broad interests of American workers.” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, though, praised “the Obama administration for negotiating changes to the original 2007 proposed Korea-US pact,” per the Wall Street Journal.
Read HERE for more about U.S. trade policy concerns which are being thoughtfully addressed by the Obama administration.
See Profile of U.S.-South Korea Trade Agreement for a one-page summary of President Obama’s first free trade agreement and the first U.S. trade agreement with a major Asian economy.