White House and Congress Clear Trade Deal Hurdle

[Bacchus39]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/business/29trade.html


WASHINGTON — The White House struck a deal with House Republicans Tuesday to reinstate benefits for workers who lose jobs to foreign competition, addressing a major obstacle to consideration of three free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Haggling over the modest and obscure benefits program had tied up the trade pacts for months, pitting Democrats concerned about the impact of competition on American workers against Republicans eager to increase foreign trade but loath to increase federal spending on another aid program.

But the deal does not assure that Congress will pass the pacts, which are crucial ingredients in the Obama administration’s recipe for reinvigorating economic growth. Indeed, Republicans quickly said they would continue to insist that the benefits program be considered separately from the trade agreements, a condition Democrats described as unacceptable.

The Obama administration, which had maintained for weeks that it would not submit the trade pacts to Congress until the deadlock was resolved, by Tuesday night found itself defending its new deal as an important step that might lead to a complete resolution.

[Bacchus39]

1. p.s. IMO the reason to support or oppose an FTA is job creating potential

in the US, and secondarily the trading partner country. if this is bad for US jobs, I oppose the FTA not because of the countries involved, but because of the adverse impact. if there is a positive impact then I favor it.