Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will lead a congressional delegation to South Korea from April 27-29 that includes House Ways and Means trade subcommittee Chairman Jim McDermott (D-WA) as well as Reps. Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Joe Crowley (D-NY), according to an April 14 Commerce announcement. Sources have indicated that Reichert has been unofficially tapped as the Republican whip for the Korea FTA (Inside U.S. Trade, March 4) and that Crowley has been informally appointed as the Democratic whip for the Korea, Colombia, and Panama FTAs. In that capacity,they will be tasked with building support among their parties for passing the agreement… Crowley’s staff has indicated he will work on building support among House Democrats on all three FTAs, business representatives said at an April 8 press roundtable at the National Foreign Trade Council.
