10.04.11

Hoeven: Free Trade Agreements Move to U.S. Senate Floor

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today said the U.S.-South Korean, Colombian and Panamanian free trade agreements are one step closer to approval now that the President has submitted them and Senate leadership has brought them to the U.S. Senate floor. 

Hoeven worked with congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the Administration to send the three agreements to Congress for approval. In April, Hoeven and U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell met in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and prominent Korean business leaders to advance the Korean Free Trade Agreement. This summer the Senator met with U.S. Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk and urged the Administration to move the legislation forward. 

Senator Hoeven also worked with a bipartisan group of Senators this summer to forge an agreement on a Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill, which cleared the way for the Administration to send the agreements to Congress for approval. The Senator delivered the national Republican Radio Address in June to urge support for the three measures. 

“These three trade agreements combined represent more than $13 billion in increased economic activity for U.S. manufacturers, farmers and ranchers,” Hoeven said. “The largest of the three, the South Korean Free Trade Agreement, is estimated alone to increase the nation’s exports to that country by more than $10 billion and create up to 280,000 American jobs at a time when our nation very much needs both economic growth and jobs.”