Yesterday at the Chamber, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made her first public briefing on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement to members of the U.S.-Korea FTA Business Coalition following Korea’s agreement on April 18 to fully reopen Korea’s market to U.S. beef exports. 

The agreement reached by Korean and U.S. negotiators eliminated a major obstacle to Congressional consideration of the U.S.-Korea FTA and ignited new momentum for the agreement - the most commercially significant U.S. trade deal in over a decade. 

In her remarks to Coalition members, Ambassador Schwab underscored that a core element of the U.S.-Korea FTA is the important contribution the agreement will make to U.S. competitiveness globally and to job growth at home, noting that the U.S. International Trade Commission has forecast that the FTA will generate between $10 billion and $12 billion in new U.S. GDP growth.  Ambassador Schwab said that, with the beef issue now resolved, it is now time for the U.S.-Korea FTA to be debated on its markets and that it is time for Congress to take action on the U.S.-Colombia TPA and the agreement with Korea this year (More from Politico and CQ).

President Bush has also called on Congress to approve the U.S.-Korea FTA this year following his April 19 summit at Camp David with Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

For more on the U.S.-Korea FTA, visit www.uskoreafta.org.