Excerpt: Finally, after more than four years of debate and acrimony, Congress is expected to pass the free trade agreements the United States negotiated with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. All three will go a long way in helping to give a much-needed boost to the economy by increasing US exports and supporting and creating tens of thousands of American jobs. For those of us who speak for hundreds of US companies with thousands of workers and worldwide operations, these free trade agreements (or FTAs) are urgently needed. Despite a popular view that open trade kills American jobs, the particulars of these agreements show their benefits.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/1012/Congress-finally-gets-it-Free-trade-is-good-for-America

Excerpt: By the time South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak arrives at the White House for a state dinner honoring him next Thursday, President Obama will be able to present him with a ratified US-Korea free trade agreement. That’s the prediction of White House Chief of Staff William Daley, who confidently told a Washington audience of business leaders and diplomats Wednesday night that Congress will approve a package of three free-trade deals and domestic trade-impact legislation by the middle of next week. Mr. Daley told guests at the National Foreign Trade Council’s annual black-tie dinner that the four-part trade package – free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, plus legislation that renews funding for retraining workers who lose jobs to foreign competition – will move “across the finish line” next Wednesday.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2011/1006/Stalled-free-trade-deals-now-on-a-fast-track-White-House-says

Excerpt: The U.S. Senate may vote on pending free-trade agreements as soon as Oct. 12, Majority Leader Harry Reid said after White House Chief of Staff William Daley urged lawmakers to finish work on the pacts next week…. President Barack Obama sent Congress legislation for the trade accords reached four years ago on Oct. 3 after House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he would consider the worker assistance in tandem with the trade deals. Action by both chambers would send the accords to Obama on the eve of a state visit by South Korea’s President Lee Myung Bak. “We need to get all four elements of this package — the three trade deals and TAA — across the finish line next week,” Daley told representatives of companies including Ford Motor Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at a fund-raising dinner for the National Foreign Trade Council’s educational foundation.
 
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-06/senate-may-vote-on-trade-pacts-oct-12-as-daley-urges-passage.html

Excerpt: House and Senate leaders are working on a deal to pass three long-delayed free-trade agreements next week, a bold gambit that if successful would mark an unusually fast turnaround for trade pacts in Congress. A Senate Republican aide and a business community official each said talks to secure quick congressional passage of trade pacts between South Korea, Colombia and Panama are in advanced stages. The votes would include a plan to renew funding for workers who lost their jobs due to overseas competition on the same day. White House Chief of Staff William Daley, speaking at a National Foreign Trade Council dinner Wednesday night, said “we need to get all four components” of the package of trade measures “across the finish line next week.”http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203476804576613143039093216.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Excerpt: A multimillion-dollar stimulus package for K Street is coming to a close. The expected passage of the trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea marks the end point of a long campaign that saw the respective governments spend freely on lobbyists, lawyers and public relations to help push the deals to the finish line…. Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a pro-trade business group, called the expected passage of the agreements “a good thing.” “Evidence of the benefits of the deals and the costs of not implementing them has been piling up for some time, so it’s good to get them done. Also, being able to do it with a degree of bipartisan cooperation is also good news for the Congress’s ability to get anything done,” Reinsch told The Hill…. Reinsch predicted there would be some reductions in the lobbying corps. “I imagine some will, particularly if they were specifically for enactment of the legislation. However, even after the president signs the bills, there are many things that have to happen before they actually enter into force, and countries might find it in their interest to maintain some level of representation,” Reinsch said.http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/185867-trade-deals-were-cash-cow-for-k-street

Excerpt: U.S. companies should push Congress to approve free-trade accords with South Korea, Colombia and Panama next week while renewing aid to workers hurt by foreign competition, White House Chief of Staff William Daley said. Passing the free-trade agreements and the worker aid, called Trade Adjustment Assistance, is an “essential piece of the president’s jobs agenda,” Daley said last night in Washington. President Barack Obama sent Congress legislation for the trade pacts reached four years ago on Oct. 3 after House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he would consider the worker assistance in tandem with the trade deals. “It is too soon for any of us to take a victory lap,” Daley told representatives of companies including Ford Motor Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at a fund-raising dinner for the National Foreign Trade Council’s educational foundation. “We need to get all four elements of this package — the three trade deals and TAA — across the finish line next week.”http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-05/daley-says-trade-agreements-should-clear-u-s-congress-next-week.html