Awaiting US trade negotiations with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea

From Reuters

Democrats complain Colombia has not done enough to stop violence against trade unionist and they want changes in Panama's tax haven laws and labor regime.

Midwestern lawmakers, including some Republicans, are unhappy with auto provisions of the Korean agreement they say fail to tear down barriers that keep American cars out.

U.S. trade officials also met recently with Ford Motor Co (F.N) President Alan Mulally, whose company is the loudest industry opponent of the Korean pact.

U.S. Wheat farmers -- reliant on exports for half their sales -- said they were anxious for the Colombia pact to pass, noting Canada will soon ratify a similar deal, which would give it a leg up in that market.

Obama said in his State of the Union Address that he wants to double U.S. exports in 5 years, supposedly supporting some 2 million jobs within the U.S. Trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea have historically been blocked by Democratic party opposition. Obama's remarks are meant to real in Republican interests to help support other Obama initiatives such as health care reform.

But Daniel Price, a lawyer at Sidley Austin and former White House adviser to George W. Bush, said many would be "puzzled" by Obama's failure to explicitly urge approval of the deals and instead only call for stronger trade ties.

If Obama were to actually push these deals through Congress, he would risk dividing the Democratic party, many of whom have been against such negotiations since they began during the Bush administration. These Democrats blame the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of the early 1990s and China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 for the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs.