Obama South Korea trip covers free trade deal

Obama South Korea trip covers free trade deal    South Korean officials pressed President Barack Obama during his visit Wednesday to the Asian nation to push through approval of large free trade agreement that has languished since 2007.
   In an interview with Fox News, Obama said he wanted to get a deal done in 2010 if certain details can be worked out.
   'Overall, I think it's a potential good deal for U.S. exporters, but there are certain sectors of the economy that aren't dealt with as effectively,' he said.
   Many members of Congress, for example, want South Korea to loosen restrictions on imports of U.S. automobiles. Korean carmakers export hundreds of thousands of cars to the United States each year, but their U.S. counterparts only sold 7,000 vehicles in South Korea in 2008.

Obama

   Congress has yet to ratify the free trade agreement negotiated by the Bush administration.
   Obama said it's unclear if Congress would agree to passage in the beginning or end of the year. The issue is unlikely to be passed by the Democratic Congress, which is under pressure from its union supporters to curtail outsourcing of jobs, in the middle of the year as mid-term congressional elections loom in November. ' Eric Kulisch