White House's Korea Deal

As of Friday night, the U.S. government has announced a free trade agreement between us and South Korea. Hey, jobs may increase now! Apparently, the hold was in place over cars, but a deal has been reached on that front. Next, Congress has to clear it, which will probably happen. According to the President, this means an increase in American exports, by up to 11 billion, as well as support for 70,000 jobs. No surprise, the AFL-CIO will oppose it, but they oppose every free trade deal. Here's the deal, outlined by politico.com:

Under the original deal, U.S. import taxes would have disappeared immediately for most Korean autos, but the new pact keeps that 2.5 percent tax in place for four years before phasing out in the fifth year.

Likewise, the original plan to immediately start phasing out America’s 25 percent import tariff on small trucks was scrapped. That hefty tariff, which deters foreign competition for U.S. truck makers such as Ford Motor Co., will remain in place for seven years, and then be eliminated over the next three years.
“These are amazing protections for the auto industry,” said one business lobbyist who favors the deal. “This is seven years that Ford won’t have to deal with truck imports from Korea. That is real money.”
Korea also made auto trade concessions, agreeing to reduce its import tariff from 8 percent to 4 percent immediately and then eliminate it in five years.
Korean auto companies have seen their auto exports to the United States soar in the last decade to nearly 500,000 in 2009, while U.S exports to Korea remain less than 10,000 a year. Ford and other U.S. auto makers have complained that Korea uses high taxes, plus arbitrary and discriminatory environmental and safety standards to lock out imports.
Under the new agreement, 25,000 American-made autos a year will be admitted without having to meet Korean rules, and the changes to those rules will be phased in slowly and subject to more transparency.

Meantime, Ford is hesitatingly endorsing the deal. It might do some good. Now, if there had only been rules about worker's safety, and health.