Washington, DC – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) today issued the following statement on the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement’s Entry-Into-Force:
“The KORUS FTA’s entry-into-force reflects solid bipartisan support among Americans for balanced trade agreements with strong labor, environmental, and IP protections. I look forward to the Administration building on this momentum to bring a high-standard TPP trade agreement to completion. Now more than ever, our ability to create good paying American jobs at home is tied to our success in exporting goods and services around the world. Asia’s growing and dynamic markets, with its large and increasing middle-class of consumers, are critically-important to growing our economy and supporting quality jobs. High-standard agreements like KORUS ensure that American workers and companies have a level playing field to compete for these customers. And they also remind countries in the region and elsewhere that the United States is very much open for business.”
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior member of the Finance Committee, Kerry has been a strong and consistent advocate for the passage and implementation of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). In May 2010, Kerry and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to President Obama expressing support for a timely resolution of outstanding issues on KORUS. In July 2010, he followed up with another letter from him and nine other Democratic Senators reiterating to the President their congressional support for swift action.
Read a joint op-ed by Kerry and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) that was published in the Washington Times in January 2011. The piece argues the benefits of the agreement.
*Please send any inquiries to jodi_seth@kerry.senate.gov *