WASHINGTON, DC - At a Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing today, Republicans continued efforts to hold up the South Korea FTA until the Colombia FTA is also ready for consideration. The hearing comes days after notification by the Office of the United States Trade Representative that the Korea FTA is ready to move forward with technical discussions on the draft implementing bill.
“There are serious outstanding labor and violence issues in Colombia and Republicans should not let the Korea FTA languish while the Administration resolves these issues. This would be economically short-sighted and destructive - the Korea agreement will increase exports ten times as much as the Colombia FTA, creating thousands of export-driven jobs in America," said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee. “The EU-Korea FTA goes into effect on July 1 and, if we don’t act, U.S. workers, businesses, and farmers will lose ground to their EU competitors to the tune of $1.1 billion in exports (according to the Republican’s own assessments). Similarly, we need to renew other trade initiatives that the Republicans are holding up, like Trade Adjustment Assistance, the Generalized System of Preferences Program and the Andean Trade Preferences program, and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill."
In her testimony, Deputy United States Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro stated, “We have been encouraged by the actions of the Santos Administration, but more needs to be done. We believe the Colombian Government wants to identify solutions to these issues, and that we have a window of opportunity to address the issues."
Ambassador Sapiro continued, “There remain serious issues to be resolved before the agreement can be submitted for Congressional consideration. These outstanding concerns focus on: (i) the protection of internationally-recognized labor rights; (ii) prevention of violence against labor leaders; and (iii) the prosecution of perpetrators of such violence."
Furthermore, the economic benefits of the Korea FTA are vast in comparison to the Colombia FTA:
* The expected increase in exports as a result of implementation of the Korea FTA is approximately 10 times the expected increase resulting from the Colombia FTA
* The expected increase in U.S. GDP as a result of implementation of the Korea FTA is approximately five times the expected increase resulting from the Colombia FTA
* Republicans have said that the three pending FTAs together will account for 250,000 new jobs. Using their methodology, the Korea FTA will account for approximately 192,000 of these new jobs.
Republican leadership has recognized the importance of the Korea FTA in the past. In a September 2009 Federal Register submission, then Minority Leader John Boehner, Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Ranking Member Dave Camp and Subcommittee Ranking Member Kevin Brady stated:
“Moving ahead is essential because failure to enact KORUS comes at a high economic cost for the United States…South Korea has essentially finished its trade agreement negotiations with the European Union, and the agreement is expected to be initialed this fall and signed early next year. This agreement will significantly disadvantage U.S. exporters. Specifically, U.S. workers could lose $1.1 billion in exports to South Korea once the EU-South Korea trade agreement is fully implemented, according to Ways & Means Republican Staff with the assistance of the ITC. These lost sales will injure industries vital to the U.S. economy, including the machinery, auto parts, chemicals, plastics, food, meat and dairy sectors."
