Over the next few months, U.S. free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea are set to come before Congress. The deals, first negotiated under George W. Bush, have been the subject of endless controversy: Colombia over concerns over labor laws and killings of labor unionists; Korea over auto sales and health fears about U.S. beef; Panama over allegedly lax banking regulations.
If the agreements finally pass this year, it will be thanks to an unlikely supporter: U.S. President Barack Obama. After talking tough on trade on the campaign trail, Obama has since gotten behind the bilateral deals. Foreign Policy's editor, Susan Glasser, sat down with U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk, Obama's point man on the agreements, to get the inside story on the Obama trade policy and where the administration is looking next for America's free trade future. The edited excerpts of their conversation follow.
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Foreign Policy: Trade is back on the very top of the Washington agenda. So what is your assessment of what's going to happen and when, on these free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, on Capitol Hill?
Ron Kirk: Let me push back a little back a little bit: You said trade is back! Trade never left. It has always been critically important to our economy and this administration. But I do believe we can make a compelling case that what differentiates the Obama administration approach to trade from previous administrations is that we took office with the strong supposition that as part of our effort to get this economy going, grow our economy into the future, and maintain our competiveness, you just cannot escape the reality that the United States is going to have to find a way to sell more of what we make, create, innovate, grow, raise to the rest of the world... For us to be relevant and competitive in the future, we have to be a part of trade.
What I admire about this president is that I think he was more honestly willing to give voice to and confront the reality that most Americans now look at trade and say, "You know, that sounds good. We get the cheaper electronics and T-shirts. But if trade is going to manifest itself in us just buying stuff from the rest of the world -- as they get to make it and they get the jobs --we're not sure if we want to be a part of this." We decided we had to do trade differently. We couldn't just spend our time with those who define fidelity to trade in terms of, "When are you going to sign a new agreement?" We had to spend an equal amount of time listening to those who said, you know, I'm either concerned or I've got challenges.
Within the near term, we believe we're in a better position now to have a conversation and work with Congress to approve the trade agreements that we've structured with Korea, with Panama, and with Colombia. Equally important, it will also help Congress understand, in this broader strategy that we're trying to implement, that equally important to passing agreements, let's also make sure we demonstrate to America's workers that we believe the promise of Trade Adjustment Assistance and we're going to honestly have a program that helps them.
FP: Still, President Obama is not exactly in the same place that he was during the campaign in how he talks about trade. Do you think you have persuaded the president's political coalition on the Hill to vote for these trade agreements now?
RK: I don't know that I am that far away from where the president was, but campaigns are what they are, and there's no point in me revisiting that.
I don't suffer any illusion that the conversation among some parts of the Democratic community is going to change radically because of Barack Obama and Ron Kirk. But I can make a credible case to the president that we've done what you've asked us to do, in that we created a new strategy, we've paid attention to the critics as much as we have those that want us to go forward, we are utilizing all our tools to hold our partners accountable, and we are more close to having a trade policy that's fair.
FP: I know you're not in the crystal ball business but what is your strategy for moving the current trade agreements forward?
RK: We have sent a letter on behalf of the administration to the Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees: We are ready to begin discussions with you on how you want to do the mock hearings and look at reviewing [these FTAs]. There are a number of things we have to do before we finally send it up. [But] because of the action plan that we were able to successfully conclude with Colombia [on April 7], we'll be in a position to start that process very quickly. That's a discussion we'll sit down and have with Congress when they return from recess.
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