Clinton urges Congress to approve FTA With South Korea, Panama, Colombia

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has urged Congress to approve the United States' Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, and a trade adjustment assistance program before the summer recess.

Addressing the 2.011 U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) Conference in Washington on Tuesday, Clinton said it was time to put these trade deals to work on behalf of the American people.

She spoke to the USGLC about the role diplomacy and development played in creating "a lot of jobs in the United States by enabling us to sell more in third country markets."

And the three agreements are very important priorities in that area, she added.

Clinton said "while our economic competitors are signing bilateral trade deals with countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, the three trade deals now working their way through Congress have the potential to create tens of thousands of new American jobs."

The U.S.-Korea FTA is projected to grow American economy by at least $10 billion annually. 

The United States exports goods worth more than $40 billion to South Korea each year, and is poised to export even more under the new FTA.

The U.S.-Colombia FTA would allow American businesses to sell goods in Colombia duty free the same way Colombian goods have entered the United States for many years.

And it comes with important new guarantees on labor and human rights.

In Panama, instead of paying tariffs as high as 81 per cent as American businesses do now, 88 per cent of the consumer and industrial goods the United States export would enter Panama duty free.

"These nations are three important partners in strategically vital areas. 

Countries everywhere are watching to see whether America will deliver for our friends and allies.

And so, passing these deals is critical to our economic recovery," Clinton reminded.

Overall, foreign investment is responsible for more than five million American jobs, including two million in manufacturing.

That is why the Commerce Department recently launched a new program called SelectUSA to mobilize U.S. Ambassadors, State Governors, and State and Commerce Department officials to attract more investment in America.

A new position was created in the State Department to deal with non-federal officials - State Governors, city mayors, and the like and their counterparts abroad.

Under an agreement signed during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington in January, the United States is going to start a relationship between the National Governors' Association and Provincial Governors in China.

The first meeting will be held this summer in Utah with Chinese Governors meeting with their American counterparts, and then each Governor will bring two to 300 business leaders and other officials and go out to other American cities and States.

Washington is also pursuing bilateral investment treaties, the so-called BITs, making it easier to invest in America, and protect U.S. investments overseas.

Clinton said she would be working to resume talks with the Indian government on signing BIT when she visits the country next week.

She stressed the need to make sure that American construction companies and suppliers were positioned to compete for contracts and take part in the global construction boom.

Clinton cited the examples of India, which announced a $1 trillion plan to improve its infrastructure over the next five years, and Brazil, which is investing $100 billion in the run-up to the 2.016 Olympics.