On the recordNovember 30, 2010
as our economy struggles to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, we must look at all ways to create jobs here at home. One obvious way to create jobs is to sell more products to overseas markets. That's why President Obama has announced the goal of doubling U.S. exports by the year 2015. That is an admirable goal and one that I support. To achieve that goal we have to examine our trade policies and change them when they are not working. That is surely what we need to do when it comes to the so-called U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and automotive trade. This agreement, still being negotiated, would perpetuate an unlevel playing field that unfairly disadvantages U.S. automotive exports. One of the reasons the agreement has not been brought before the U.S. Congress for approval is because the agreement is skewed in favor of Korean automakers. The Bush administration made a major error in how it approached the growing field of electric vehicles during treaty negotiations. The agreement would allow for a 10 year phase-out of the 8 percent Korean tariff on hybrid electric passenger vehicles and the 2.5 percent U.S. tariff. This is not a fair deal for U.S. electric car exports. It's bad enough that the current Korean electric car tariff is more than three times the U.S. tariff. This agreement would lock in place for 10 years Korea's electric car tariff advantage as it is phased out. Why in the world would we agree to that?
