American and South Korean negotiators failed to reach agreement on a new trade pact during President Barack Obama's visit to Seoul, creating new delays and obstacles for an accord that the White House has said could translate to an additional $10 billion in U.S. exports and 70,000 American jobs.
A long-running dispute over U.S. access to Korea's auto and beef markets was largely responsible for the failure, according to the White House.Obama tried to put a positive spin on the setback during a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak."We have asked our teams to work tirelessly in the coming days and weeks to get this completed, and we are confident that we will do so," he said.Reaching a deal "could be a win for the overall economic partnership between our two countries by bringing us closer together, allowing us to benefit from each other's innovations, and ensuring strong protections for workers' rights and the environment."Lee has agreed to send a team to Washington to continue work on the trade pact. Among the hurdles negotiators are trying to overcome: Korean conglomerates known as chaebols, which have kept a firm grasp on the union-strong country's marketplace, drawing complaints from foreign companies that have tried to do business there.Obama is in South Korea for the G-20 summit, which is meeting Thursday and Friday to try to stabilize the world's financial markets. His trip is part of a 10-day Asia tour that is aimed at strengthening the United States' trade and military ties with a region that has thrived economically.
