US Senate Panel Clears Three Trade Pact

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201110112035dowjonesdjonline000460&t

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, brushing aside opposition from labor unions and some manufacturers in an effort to ratify pacts first negotiated more than four years ago.

The panel cleared the Colombia pact 18-6 and approved the other two deals by voice vote. The deals are forecast to generate $13 billion a year in exports and expected to clear both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The trade agreements have been cast by both the Obama administration and congressional leaders as a way to boost the U.S. economy.

Republicans and Democrats have been fighting for years over the trade deals, reflecting longstanding tension over whether phasing out tariffs winds up boosting growth or costing U.S. jobs. Unions are coming out against the trade pacts, and have stepped up a lobbying campaign since Obama submitted the agreements to Congress last week.

Democratic lawmakers began showing more support for the trade pacts since the deals have been reworked. A final breakthrough came when Republican leaders agreed to go along with the renewal of a worker retraining program that helps workers who lose jobs because of overseas competition. The program, known as Trade Adjustment Assistance, would be scaled back after a 2009 expansion as some Republicans complain that the assistance is a waste of money.

Read more: NASDAQ