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USTR wants Korea FTA approval by July

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says the Obama administration wants to have the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement approved by Congress by July 1^st.  That would be the same date the new FTA between South Korea and the European Union goes into effect.

Kirk rejected suggestions that two other pending FTAs, involving Columbia and Panama, be packaged together with the South Korean agreement for Congressional approval.  He says it would be a “huge mistake” to lump them together.   Some House Republican leaders have called for all three stalled FTAs to be approved in the first six months of 2011.