Congressman Michaud of Maine doesn't like it: Michaud Responds to Deal on Korea-US Trade Agreement.
Neither does Lori Wallach of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch: Obama’s Decision to Push Bush’s NAFTA-Style Korea Trade Deal Without Real Fixes Is Major Policy, Political Mistake.
Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana, and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, thinks more should have been done to address Korean restrictions on beef imports: Baucus Deeply Disappointed With Announcement on Korea Trade Deal, Commits to Keep Fighting for American Ranchers.
Auggie Tantillo of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition is concerned (U.S. Sets Sweeping New Deal on Trade):
Even before its full details were released, trade skeptics in the U.S. assailed the deal as doing too little to protect U.S. workers. "If the flaws that industry identified in the agreement were not fixed, then this deal could offshore tens of thousands of additional U.S. manufacturing jobs," said Auggie Tantillo, executive director American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, which had pressed for greater action on textile industry-related tariffs and customs-enforcement language.
Lee Tae-hoon reports for the Korea Times that Korean opposition parties in the National Assembly are not happy, "Opposition to block ratification of FTA":
Opposition parties Sunday vowed to block the National Assembly’s endorsement of the revised free trade deal (FTA) with the United States, saying the government has made excessive concessions in the “humiliating negotiation”.
Citing a report, Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), estimated that Seoul made concessions worth 3 trillion won ($2.64 billion) to Washington in return for new demands worth 300 billion won.
The DP leader said that his party is mulling over whether to demand a complete revision of the bilateral trade deal in an attempt to seek revisions in the ratchet clause that bars going back to the pre-FTA days and the investor-state dispute (ISD) system, which allows investors to file suits against each other’s government for possible unfair treatment.
DP floor leader Park Jie-won said his party will join forces with civic groups and other opposition parties, including the Liberty Forward Party (LFP), to address the problems of the revised bilateral trade deal in an attempt to block its parliamentary ratification.
“Our party cannot tolerate the disgraceful negotiation process and will not accept the lopsided deal,” Park said shortly after Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon’s briefing on the results of the FTA renegotiation.
Opposition parties pointed out that the timing of the renegotiation was ill-guided as it took place when the nation’s security heavily depends on U.S. forces and inter-Korean tensions reached a new peak due to Pyongyang’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23.
“The government failed to protect the nation’s interests by holding the talks at a time when it desperately needs military cooperation from the United States,” the LFP said in a statement.
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