From the Washington Times:

Eight months after he called for action on a string of stalled free-trade deals, President Obama is battling fierce opposition from his own party and concerns over a rising trade deficit in a rush to meet his own self-imposed November deadline for finishing a major accord with South Korea. But the failure of the Obama administration to advance any major trade deals has many of his allies on the issue - including many top Republicans - questioning where Mr. Obama can deliver on his promises. "I've never heard a president make the arguments for trade agreements as eloquently as President Obama did in January and not say at the end of that statement: 'I will send this agreement to you and expect you to pass it, and want to work with you to pass it,'" said Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican and an outspoken proponent of trade deals. "I don't quite get it." "Everybody is moving forward except for us right now," said Christopher Wenk, senior director of international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, noting that South Korea, for one, is preparing a free-trade deal with the European Union.

...Business groups - which were pleasantly surprised by Mr. Obama's November deadline for a South Korea deal - warn that the U.S. government must act quickly. They note that South Korea's trade agreement with the European Union, tentatively set to be signed this fall, has caused American meat and dairy exports to South Korea to plunge. The Chamber of Commerce's Mr. Wenk said efforts by some in the United States to renegotiate pieces of the South Korea deal could open the floodgates for other industries seeking better terms and lead some South Korea industry groups to demand changes as well.

According to a November study by the Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. stands to lose $35 billion in exports to the world and as many as 345,000 jobs if it fails to implement the agreement with South Korea. Canada, which recently ratified a trade pact with Colombia, is in negotiations with South Korea, as is Australia.

You can find the November study here, for additional information on the importance of trade for job creation please see: The State of World Trade and Opening Markets and Creating Jobs: Estimated U.S. Employment Effects of Trade with FTA Partners.