President Obama is offering an especially warm welcome to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok Thursday after the House and Senate approved three free-trade agreements last night, the South Korea deal being the largest and packing the most economic punch.
The approval of all three deals – with South Korea, Columbia and Panama — ends a years-long impasse and hands President Obama an impressive victory and some nice timing for the South Korean President’s visit.
But President Obama mainly has Republicans to thank for the trade deals long-awaited passage, one of the few components of Obama’s jobs package where he and the GOP agree.
“The trade bills we’ll be voting on tonight are a start,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Wednesday night. “There’s no reason we should have had to wait nearly three years for this President to send them up to Congress for a vote, but they’re a good start nonetheless.”
All three deals had broad Republican support while they divided House Democrats. The vast majority of the Democratic caucus voted against all three deals, the agreement with Colombia attracting the most noes – 158. Even Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), one of Obama’s top lieutenants in Congress, voted against the Colombia agreement, though she voted for the other two.
Pelosi couldn’t stomach easing business deals with the South American country so often criticized for its human-rights and worker rights records. She had previously blocked the Colombia agreement while she was Speaker during the Bush administration.
Obama administration officials tried to allay Democrats concerns, assuring them that the benefits of the Colombia trade deal won’t go into effect until the country implements all elements of a labor action plan the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk negotiated that would impose severe penalties on companies who use violent means to suppress labor activity.
“If it’s not in the bill, it doesn’t exist,” Pelosi said.
The other two deals were far less controversial. The Obama administration had negotiated concession from both countries. South Korea had agreed to more balanced trade on autos and Panama pledged to provide more transparency on the way it taxes goods.
