Obama Sends Trade Agreements to Congress, Ending Four-Year Wait |
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October 4, 2011
President Barack Obama sent Congress legislation for free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a wait for business supporters that spanned more than four years and two presidencies.
President Barack Obama sent Congress legislation for free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a wait for business supporters that spanned more than four years and two presidencies.
Packed into 18 boxes and piled into a sport-utility vehicle, the bills were driven from the White House to the Capitol yesterday after House Speaker John Boehner pledged to debate them in tandem with benefits for workers who lose jobs to foreign competition. The pacts, reached under President George W. Bush, had been stymied by a stalemate with Republicans over the aid, called Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Obama spent two years after taking office seeking to broaden Democratic support for the trade accords. He negotiated new terms for auto tariffs in the South Korea agreement that won over the United Auto Workers union, a deal on exchanging tax information with Panama and labor-rights assurances from Colombia. Companies from Caterpillar Inc. to General Electric Co. have lobbied for the agreements to increase market access.
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