Written from South Korea
The Korea free trade agreement is something that is good for both the United States and Korea. For South Korea, this is an opportunity to solidify their position as a world economic power by establishing a relationship with the United States. They are in a situation where they are surrounded by China, North Korea and Japan. They are a group of 50 million people who since the Korean War have gone from absolute devastation to a solid economic performer -- a country that can deal with the United States on an equal basis.
When we began trading with an impoverished South Korea, we opened our doors and lowered our tariffs to the point where they paid almost nothing to export to the United States. Simultaneously, we are still paying enormous tariffs when we export to South Korea.
I'll give you an example: a bottle of wine that would cost $13 in Seattle would cost $68 here in Seoul because of the tariffs. With the new trade agreement, those tariffs will come down and we will have Washington State wine sold here in Korea. Instead of drinking French, Italian, Spanish and Argentinean wines, they will be drinking Washington wine. That's just one example of how we stand to benefit from an economic standpoint.
The other side of it is the emotional side. Koreans feel a great gratitude toward the United States because of the Korean War, and they want to be in a permanent, special relationship with us. They want to be our partners, and they have demonstrated over and over in the diplomatic world that they support the United States. To deny them this is to say all that other stuff doesn't mean anything -- it would be us saying you can go to the European Union and trade with them exclusively.
On Friday, South Korea is slated to sign a free-trade agreement with the EU that will begin on July 1. New long-term contracts will start to be signed by Korean companies with EU companies if they have no alternative and competition from the United States because we passed on a Korean free trade agreement. Korea is moving forward, but they want to be our partner, and they have done everything to earn it. They renegotiated the trade agreement and did so in spite of political opposition in their country. They have excellent labor and environmental standards. They have done everything one could expect.
On our side, it is important we begin to establish trade agreements with other countries in the Pacific Region to allow states like Washington to create export-related jobs.
Congressman Jim McDermott represents the city of Seattle, WA in the U.S. House of Representatives where he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Trade.
Originally posted on the US Department of Commerce blog.
Follow Rep. Jim McDermott on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RepJimMcDermott
(That way hopefully they won't realize this is a Trojan Horse.)
If the U.S. enacted a scaled tariff, the Chinese government, which currently only lets its people buy 30¢ from the U.S. for every $1 we buy from them, would likely remove its barriers that prevent its people from buying more American products. Also, American and international businesses would once again find it profitable to build factories in America. An additional benefit is that the scaled tariff would collect well over $200 billion in revenue during its first year.
You should blame President Clinton when he signed NAFTA into law. NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1, 1994, and that was the first of many treaties created by many subsequent the "FREE TRADE" legislation actions! Why did he sign it into law? He did not have to! Without Bill Clinton signing NAFTA into law, many US jobs for US citizens would have stayed in the USA.
George Bush and most all of the elected Republican and Democratic US Congressmen and Senators were also in favor of NAFTA,
I guess the US workers were just sold out for lower cost consumer products.
I can only remember Ross Perot objecting to NAFTA! He said that NAFTA would "Suck the remaining jobs from the USA to Mexico" He was right, but the Republicans and the Democrats were both promoting NAFTA.
Where were the Union Labor Leaders that should have objected to NAFTA?
I guess another few more million unemployed US citizens will not matter to President Obama!
The SKFTA will allow Boeing to have assemblies and sections of their aircraft produced in South Korea and then shipped to Seattle for final assembly.
Maybe the Koreans will install the rivets with better workmanship than those installed by Boeing's union workers in that Boeing 737 where the rivets in the roof failed last week due to workmanship (as reported in my local newspaper). Maybe the union worker was hung over that day, or just did not care.
Those rivets looked like they were very far apart in the pictures that I saw. Maybe Boeing could afford to install three or four times as many rivets if they utilized Korean labor that would work for a small tiny fraction of the wages and other costs of using US Union labor to make those assemblies. The designers responsible for safety call this over design a safety factor. I would feel better if Boeing installed three or four times the mininum number of rivets that are required, no matter which worket installed the rivets.
I think that the (union worker installed) rivets failed a few years ago on another 737 in Hawaii where the whole roof came off.
The Korean War is still in effect. We have a defunct Armistice in progress that has been in effect sence 1951 or so. Many U.S. Soldiers die every year in South Korea, defending the South Korean Borders.
Second:
Supporting a country that prefers Unification, (The Uniting of communist North Korea with the South)rather than creating cooperative and unified action for Allied support is counter to our military security and the security of the peninsula.
Third:
The Korean issues is one of blockade and control against North Korea. The suffering and starvation of the North Korean citizen that reside outside of Pyong Yang is horrendous and we as Americans should in no way continue to waste funds and support on military operations when the United Nations has all the personel and support for the peninsula.
fouth:
Americans need to leave that country now, it is a waste of tax payers money. We have not accomplished anything in South Korea. It is a legacy of death and distruction from the cold war era.
Lastly:
All the products that come out of Korea are second rate goods that can be made in any country of the world, We should be investing in businesses in America. Start up businesses, small businesses, Aid funds need to go to Americans in need. Put the money to work here in America.
We get the bill.
If Korea is making stuff better than US, then it makes sense that those activities should be performed by them. US companies will have to improve performance in order to compete.
Isn't is curious that the left wing people, who fervently hate Corporate America, seem to prefer protectionist policies that allow those same corporations to become complacent and unproductive?
As Rep. McDermott says, South Korea indeed enjoyed trade preferences from the US. The latter even supported its drive for land reform. The resulting immediate fall in agricultural productivity during the transition, and also because of disruption caused by the Korean war, did not matter. The US provided all the food needed, most of it free, for South Korea's urban and industrial sector.
South Korea's working class bore the brunt of low wages to make their exports competitive. The resulting industrialization greatly improved their standard of living. But the wages of South Korean workers remain low compared with those of their US counterparts. You can figure out now who gains most from free trade. South Korea doesn't produce wine anyway.
Smart indeed.
What do you call a country that exports agricultural products and imports manufactured products? Answer: A colony.
I lived in Korea for four years. They are a fine people. They want and need the U.S. to ensure their autonomy from Giant neighbors of China, Japan and Russia. Their government is pragmatic in acting in the public interest. They have perfected the art of industrial policy, which they borrowed wholesale from Japan and made improvements on. They would not enter into a free trade agreement that doesn't enhance their manufacturing sector. Period.
So, get government off our backs and let us put the Americans back to work producing and growing the economy and our standard of living. JMO