Morning Bell: A Failing Agenda Fails
Conn Carroll /
President Barack Obama returned from Asia yesterday, and the headlines greeting him home are not kind. “Obama’s economic view is rejected on world stage,” reads The New York Times; “Obama, weakened after midterms, reveals limited leverage in failed S. Korea deal,” says The Washington Post; and ABC News declares, “President Obama Falls Short on G-20 Goals: Failure to Deliver on Key Trade Goals Reveals Limits of American Influence.” These headlines are only half-right: Yes, President Obama did fail to deliver on his agenda in Asia, but the culprit is not declining American influence. The problem is a losing agenda set by the President himself.
Let’s start with the South Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS). Typical among media outlets, The Washington Post referred to KORUS as “the nearly complete South Korea deal, which Obama inherited from the George W. Bush administration.” This is just plain false. KORUS was completed and signed three years ago. All the agreement needs is leadership from President Obama to get it approved in the Senate. But free trade is not a priority of President Obama. Instead, he unilaterally reopened negotiations on two items: beef and autos.
Yes, South Korea did temporarily close its market to U.S. beef after a mad cow scare, American beef has been back in South Korea for two years, and sales are rapidly climbing. The major U.S. beef exporter groups have publicly declared they are satisfied with the existing KORUS agreement, but President Obama is demanding more changes anyway.
While there is pressure from domestic automakers for more concessions from South Korea, their demands keep changing. In 2007, U.S. automakers were demanding that South Korea adopt stricter environmental standards on their cars. But now, three years later, President Obama is demanding the opposite: that U.S. cars be exempt from Korea’s more stringent emissions standards. The only consistent principle here is hostility to free trade. (more…)