http://articlesofinterest-kelley.blogspot.com/2010/11/us-korea-free-trade-agreement-bush.html
Did You Know That George Bush is Big in Asia?
http://articlesofinterest-kelley.blogspot.com/2009/03/did-you-know-that-george-bush-is-big-in.html
November 04, 2010
Republican victory in U.S. could speed along FTA
The Republicans’ victory in the U.S. midterm elections yesterday will be good for the long-stymied ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, according to analysts at home and abroad.
The Republican Party captured control of the U.S. House of Representatives, while narrowing the Democratic Party’s majority in the Senate.
According to a report issued by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) yesterday, Gary Hufbauer, a senior researcher at the U.S.-based Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he thinks the Republican victory makes ratification of the FTA more probable.
Obama wants to strengthen Asia-Pacific cooperation, including with Korea, Hufbauer said, and Republicans are more likely to help him than Democrats.
Jeremy Mayer, a professor at George Mason University, also said in the Kotra report that he expected ratification. He cited the 1994 midterm elections, when Republicans won both chambers of Congress and cooperated with then-President Bill Clinton to ratify the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
Park Yoon-shik, a professor at George Washington University, predicted that Congress will ratify the FTA next year.
The Korea-U.S. FTA, signed in 2007, has yet to be ratified by either country’s legislature. Many U.S. congressmen, especially Democrats, have said that clauses on beef and auto trade are too favorable to Korea.
House Republican leader John Boehner, expected to be the next Speaker of the House, has stressed the need for quickly ratifying the FTA.
Analysts say the replacement of Sander Levin as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which deals with the FTA, also favors ratification. Levin, a Democratic congressman from Michigan, has called for revisions to the accord. Dave Camp, a pro-business Republican congressman also from Michigan, is likely to become the committee’s chair.
Some, however, warned that a quick ratification is unlikely because U.S. unemployment remains above 9 percent. Protectionists claim that freer trade results in more job losses for Americans.
On the ramification of the Republicans’ victory on Korean geopolitics, analysts like Lim Hee-jeong, a researcher at Hyundai Research Institute, said Republicans favor conservative diplomatic policies and could urge the Obama administration to take a tougher line with North Korea.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from Florida and a hard-liner on North Korean issues, is a strong candidate to become chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
But Gweon Yong-lib, an international relations professor at Kyungsung University in Busan, doubted that the U.S. elections will make much of a difference in geopolitical issues.
“Republicans won only the House of Representatives, and the midterm elections usually favor the minority party,” said Gweon. “It won’t likely create a big shift in U.S. policies with South or North Korea.”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2927944
The Republicans’ victory in the U.S. midterm elections yesterday will be good for the long-stymied ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, according to analysts at home and abroad.
The Republican Party captured control of the U.S. House of Representatives, while narrowing the Democratic Party’s majority in the Senate.
According to a report issued by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) yesterday, Gary Hufbauer, a senior researcher at the U.S.-based Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he thinks the Republican victory makes ratification of the FTA more probable.
Obama wants to strengthen Asia-Pacific cooperation, including with Korea, Hufbauer said, and Republicans are more likely to help him than Democrats.
Jeremy Mayer, a professor at George Mason University, also said in the Kotra report that he expected ratification. He cited the 1994 midterm elections, when Republicans won both chambers of Congress and cooperated with then-President Bill Clinton to ratify the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
Park Yoon-shik, a professor at George Washington University, predicted that Congress will ratify the FTA next year.
The Korea-U.S. FTA, signed in 2007, has yet to be ratified by either country’s legislature. Many U.S. congressmen, especially Democrats, have said that clauses on beef and auto trade are too favorable to Korea.
House Republican leader John Boehner, expected to be the next Speaker of the House, has stressed the need for quickly ratifying the FTA.
Analysts say the replacement of Sander Levin as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which deals with the FTA, also favors ratification. Levin, a Democratic congressman from Michigan, has called for revisions to the accord. Dave Camp, a pro-business Republican congressman also from Michigan, is likely to become the committee’s chair.
Some, however, warned that a quick ratification is unlikely because U.S. unemployment remains above 9 percent. Protectionists claim that freer trade results in more job losses for Americans.
On the ramification of the Republicans’ victory on Korean geopolitics, analysts like Lim Hee-jeong, a researcher at Hyundai Research Institute, said Republicans favor conservative diplomatic policies and could urge the Obama administration to take a tougher line with North Korea.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from Florida and a hard-liner on North Korean issues, is a strong candidate to become chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
But Gweon Yong-lib, an international relations professor at Kyungsung University in Busan, doubted that the U.S. elections will make much of a difference in geopolitical issues.
“Republicans won only the House of Representatives, and the midterm elections usually favor the minority party,” said Gweon. “It won’t likely create a big shift in U.S. policies with South or North Korea.”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2927944
