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US business lobby expects SKorea deal to go through
AFP - Saturday, January 17
TOKYO (AFP) - - A top US business leader said Friday he expected the new US Congress to ratify a controversial free-trade deal with South Korea but doubted a similar pact could be reached with Asia's largest economy Japan.
The United States and South Korea signed a free trade agreement in 2007 but it awaits ratification by both countries' legislatures. US president-elect Barack Obama opposed the treaty while a senator, saying South Korea needs to open further to the troubled US auto industry.
But Thomas Donahue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce, said he was hopeful the treaty would come into force.
"I believe from the things I've heard out of the Congress and the administration in the last few days that we're going to get to it in the next couple of months," Donahue told reporters in Tokyo on a visit to the region.
"It has the great potential to be a prototype for bilateral trade agreements throughout the region," he said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
The free-trade deal has also been deeply divisive in South Korea where mass protests broke out last year against allowing US beef imports.
Violent scuffles have also broken out between rival lawmakers as the opposition insists Seoul should not ratify the agreement before the US Congress does.
South Korea's deal has raised talk of a free-trade agreement between the United States and Japan, which would unite the world's two largest economies.
But Donahue doubted Japan was ready for a deal, saying that it would then have to reveal and discuss all barriers imposed to protect domestic interests.
"I'm not pointing fingers at Japan, we do it all over the world, but Japan is the world's expert -- they are the Olympic team at doing that in an effective way," Donahue said of trade barriers.
"We have a very positive trading relationship with Japan, but I think a specific free-trade agreement would be a challenge."
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