Posted on 04/18/2007 5:32:18 AM PDT by IrishMike
Since last November’s elections, Democratic leaders have been asserting that, despite the hostile rhetoric of their rank and file, they view trade openness and engagement as indispensable to U.S. economic and security objectives. That with some accommodation of Democratic priorities on labor and environmental issues, the administration and Congress can work together to advance a bipartisan trade agenda. The credibility of those assertions is about to be tested. The recently concluded but yet-to-be ratified U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement will reveal whether the Democratic congressional leadership can be trusted to continue the time-tested tradition of promoting economic growth through liberalized trade.
South Korea is one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. exports, the seventh-largest U.S. trade partner, and the world’s tenth-largest economy. Its citizens enjoy a per-capita income of $24,000, placing them among the world’s richest. A free-trade agreement would increase U.S. national income by an estimated $17 billion to $43 billion per year.
But already opposition is building among Democrats, despite the fact that labor and the environment are virtual non-issues. And it’s not just the boisterous rank and file agitating. The leadership is more than complicit here.
Spearheading the opposition is House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade chairman, Rep. Sander Levin, a Democrat of Michigan. Levin’s opposition is predicated on the agreement’s failure to incorporate an absurd proposal that he, House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat of New York, and 13 other members — hailing mostly from Michigan — foisted upon the U.S. trade representative in the waning weeks of the negotiations.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Of course they’re pro-trade when it comes to their masters in the copyright cartel.
Why do we need Free Trade with Korea? What is the importance of this to the American people? Are we going to see huge exports of American manufactured goods to Korea? Or will Korea just rise up to be the #3 holder of the rapidly decreasing billions of US Dollars like #1 Japan and #2 China? Will we just end up with one more country we have a huge trade imbalance with?
Who is this policy designed to benefit? Koreans? Excuse me, but especially today I’m not feeling like making more sacrafices to help Korea and Koreans.
When we're talking about the copyright cartel, we are the largest exporter of movies and music.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.