US Ready to Move on FTAs with Colombia, Panama, South Korea

The Obama administration said Wednesday that it is ready to work with Congress on the approval of free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that have long been stalled by concerns over labor issues.

The move follows months of negotiations with the three countries that were originally signed under the administration of George W. Bush.

The office of the United States Trade Representative said it had sent a letter to Congress indicating it was prepared to start work on the agreement with Colombia.

Commentary:
The President’s Trade Agenda.

"We've been waiting for that for a long time -- now we're going to do everything possible so that Congress approves it in the shortest possible time," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a statement, welcoming the news.

An Obama administration official, however, said Colombia needed to take additional steps on a bilateral labor action plan before the White House would take the next step of formally submitting the agreement to Congress.

Separately, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said he had reached a deal with the administration that addressed his concerns with South Korea's remaining beef import restrictions, clearing the way for movement on that pact.

"Our long fight for strong, science-based trade rules around the world to open foreign markets for American ranchers -- and keep them open -- took big steps forward today," the Montana Democrat said in a statement.

Baucus said the Obama administration agreed to increase funding to promote U.S. beef exports in South Korea and -- once the free trade pact has been implemented -- to ask Seoul for consultations on removing restrictions imposed after mad cow disease was found in the U.S. cattle herd in the early 2000s.

The issue is highly sensitive in South Korea, and previous efforts to completely remove the remaining restrictions caused a crisis for President Lee Myung-bak.

The U.S. and Panama agreed to a revised pact in April.

USTR had already signaled its desire to begin work on draft bills to implement agreements with Panama and South Korea after addressing outstanding concerns with each pact.

Republicans who control the House of Representatives, however, had been waiting for movement on the Colombian agreement before acting on the other two pacts.