Tweet the White House About US-Korea FTA

Cindy Zimmerman

The US-Korea FTA Business Coalition is tweeting the White House for free trade this week.

The coalition is sending out messages on Twitter this week during the “White House Office Hours on the American Jobs Act” to address the importance of the US-Korea FTA and other pending trade agreements in creating American jobs and they are urging other supporters to do the same. You can use the hashtag #WHChat to ask your questions on President Obama’s speech and the American Jobs Act, and senior staff will respond to your questions in real-time via Twitter from the @WHLive account.

The Coalition itself is tweeting one specific message – “Pres. Obama, will you pass pending #FTAs to create US #jobs before US companies get shut of foreign markets? #WHChat @whitehouse” – and encouraging others to retweet it, but you could certainly come up with your own questions. The president did mention free trade in his address to Congress last week on jobs even though he has not yet formally submitting the pending FTAs to them for consideration.

“Now it’s time to clear the way for a series of trade agreements that would make it easier for American companies to sell their products in Panama and Colombia and South Korea -– while also helping the workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition,” the president said. The White House is reportedly waiting on an extension of an expired program that provides aid to workers displaced by foreign competition.

U.S. farmers and ranchers are highly supportive of moving forward with all the trade agreements, which have been languishing for years now. USDA estimates that the agricultural exports results from the FTAs will yield over $2.3 billion in sales and help support more than 19,000 American jobs in agriculture and related industries. According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says, just the agreement with South Korea alone could result in a more than $1 billion market for U.S. beef once fully implemented.

So, tweet the White House this week during one of the times listed below and ask these guys why the president is holding up the agreements. The upcoming Office Hours scheduled for this week are:
Tuesday, September 13th:
5:30 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with David Plouffe, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Wednesday, September 14th:
4:00 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council
Thursday, September 15th:
4:00 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council

Trade