Free-trade agreements between the US and South Korea, Colombia and Panama have been passed in both houses of the US Congress. The accords will now go to US President Barack Obama for approval.
The accord between the US and Korea is not only the largest for the US since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, but it also will remove tariffs on over 95 percent of industrial and consumer exports within the next five years. US International Trade Commission (ITC) estimates indicate that the deal with South Korea would increase exports up to $10.9 billion in just its first full year in place.
The trade deal with Panama was finally approved by the Senate in a 77-22 vote Thursday after being signed over four years ago.
Opposition in both the House of Representatives and the Senate made the agreement between the US and Colombia the most difficult to pass. Votes were 66-33 in the Senate and 262-167 in the House.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union was unhappy with the passage, and International USW President Leo W. Gerard issued a statement criticizing the agreements, "Historically, these agreements have closed American manufacturing facilities and cost American jobs...There are more USW-member jobs in the auto supply chain than jobs in the entire auto assembly sector and the Korea FTA's weak domestic content provisions will cause that US job sector great harm."
On the other hand, the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) welcomed the new accords, and the new opportunities they will bring for steel exports. John Foster, AIIS Chairman and President and CEO of Countinho and Ferrostaal NA, said in a press release, "AIIS has supported these agreements and urged their adoption since they were negotiated by the Bush Administration and we were encouraged that the Obama Administration likewise embraced them. Free trade works every time it is tried. These are countries with strong growth rates and by eliminating trade barriers we look forward to increased exports of US-made steel mill products and critically, steel intensive products manufactured by our and the domestic steel industry's customer. [Steel mill product exports to these countries through seven months of 2011 exceeded 177,000 tons.] In short, these FTAs will create American jobs, something our economy desperately needs at this time."