“South Korea – United States Free Trade Agreement” on The Daily Caller

That’s a political man-bites-dog headline. The issue being debated is the proposed U.S.-Korean Fair Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) — actually it’s a managed trade deal, detailed in over a thousand pages of fine print. The leviathan arrangement is filled with favors, exceptions, obligations, and restrictions and micro-manages commerce from cows to cars — sweetheart transactions for Wall Street elites and multi-national corporations. (more)

President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea failed to reach an agreement Thursday on a long-awaited free-trade agreement, saying they had decided instead to give their negotiators more time to work out differences, which revolved around Korean imports of American autos and beef. (more)

Unemployment remains high, with Washington politicians clamoring for job creation.  China is ever more confident, challenging the U.S. economically and politically.  The People’s Republic of China (PRC) even has displaced America as the number one trading partner of such leading East Asian states as South Korea. (more)

Washington, D.C.—Last week negotiators held the eighth round of negotiations of the hotly contested Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in New Zealand. As a result of these negotiations, negotiators publicly released the previously confidential negotiating text for the first time. The negotiations have been plagued with leaks over the past several years, and non-governmental organizations have criticized both the Bush and Obama administrations for their failure to release the confidential text before now. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released the 39-page ACTA text this week, which includes numerous brackets around provisions that remain under negotiation between the parties. (more)

Last week, President Obama declared his plans to double domestic exports over the next five years and announced a renewed push on the pending free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea that are currently pending. (more)

President Obama is likely to meet with congressional roadblocks, if, as he promised in last week’s State of the Union address, he intends to pursue a policy “that opens global markets.” (more)