A key US House of Representatives committee on Wednesday easily approved stalled free trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, setting the stage for the full chamber to ratify the agreements. The House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes and trade, approved the pacts by 24-12, 32-3, and 31-5 margins, respectively.
The accords were expected to face a full House vote next week, according to a Republican leadership aide, while the timing of US Senate action was unclear. The pacts, signed under former president George W. Bush, are expected to boost US exports by $13 billion and benefit US agriculture and manufacturing, and form part of President Barack Obama's plan to cut 9.1 percent unemployment.
"These agreements will support tens of thousands of jobs across the country for workers making products stamped with three proud words: Made in America," Obama said in a statement as he sent the accords to Congress on Monday. The accords had run into Democratic opposition early in Obama's term.
The Colombia pact stalled on US concerns over violence against labour activists, the Panama agreement faced hurdles tied to alleged money laundering and worries about opening South Korea's automobile market held up that pact. Colombia labor union members on Tuesday said their country's labor conditions and union rights situation had not improved enough and vowed to work with the AFL-CIO US labor union to try to defeat that agreement.
"Violations of union rights are still as serious, with 23 assassinations this year. Given these conditions, we continue to reject the free trade deal," Luis Alberto Vanegas, from the Unitary Central of Workers (CUT), told AFP. Obama and President Juan Manuel Santos agreed in April on a plan to improve the labour situation in Colombia, but union members lamented the results.
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