Posted on 10/16/2009 5:30:43 PM PDT by Kaslin
Free Trade: Europe just walked off with the second-biggest trade deal in history with South Korea, bringing a fresh $26 billion to both economies and extending their clout globally. It's a prize that could have been ours.
Welcome to the new America, the land of the left behind. As the Obama administration dithers for the eighth straight month about three pending free-trade treaties, those dust clouds you see are Europe taking off and running with the big one — South Korea.
Late Thursday, Europe completed a free-trade pact with Korea in which 99% of all tariffs will be scrapped within five years. The two blocs already do business totaling $98 billion, and this deal is expected to tack on another $26 billion.
Products affected include machine tool parts, pharmaceuticals and agricultural produce. All are goods that American companies also make, but they still shell out 56% in tariffs.
For Europe, the deal with Korea was easy. The U.S. had already negotiated a trade pact of its own that was ready to go in 2006. Details of the EU-Korea treaty are nearly identical, so it's obvious the Europeans just Xeroxed the U.S.-Korea pact and will now walk off with the spoils.
The EU-Korea treaty is the biggest since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. South Korea is the world's 15th-largest economy, and the 27-nation European Union is the biggest bloc.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
“It’s a prize that could have been ours.”
Is this writer 12 years old?
Ping.
Can we start using the phrase “Obama’s fault” yet? ;-)
bookmark.
FUBO! This is more fuel for the 2010 elections!
No. What’s so puerile about it to you?
Please explain....
It seems to me the stalling on the KOR-US FTA was a mutual dragging of the feet between both countries. After all, this started during Bush’s watch and he wasn’t able to get Congress to sign off on it either.
Also, in Korea, many liberal, anti-American legislators dragged their feet as well, so I don’t believe it’s fair to blame Obama for it.
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