LIMA (AFP)--U.S. President George W. Bush told South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak Saturday that a U.S.-South Korea free trade deal has stalled in Washington due to an anti-trade "backlash," the White House said.
"The president did say that he doesn't think that the Congress is delaying because they have a negative feeling about South Koreans, but that there is a backlash against free trade," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Bush, meeting Lee on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru's capital, said "he thinks we need to overcome it if we're going to overcome our economic challenges," Perino told reporters.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, 2009, has called the April 2007 deal "badly flawed" and charged it does too little to narrow a huge imbalance in the auto trade in Seoul's favor.
South Korea shipped about 700,000 cars to the U.S. last year while importing 5,000 U.S. cars, official figures show.
Neither legislature has ratified the pact, and Lee gave no sign of when South Korean lawmakers would act, said Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs on Bush's national security council.
"He didn't make any particular commitment or statement on when the national assembly in Korea will take up the free trade agreement," Wilder told reporters.
The joint talks grouping Aso, Bush, and Lee carried "a strong theme of concern about the possibility of protectionism and protectionist barriers being thrown up in the middle of this financial crisis," Perino said.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 22, 2008 15:12 ET (20:12 GMT)

Publié le 22 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones