Q Dennis, the free trade agreement the two Presidents are going to discuss -- what has the U.S. government communicated to the South Koreans about the likelihood of this free trade deal going through during this Congress? Has the President said he's going to try, that it's going to get done? What have we basically told the South Koreans about the likelihood this will get done?

MR. WILDER: I think in our discussions with the South Koreans we've been very realistic about the situation we face. We have told them that we are going to work very hard, that American business coalition will work very hard on their behalf, but there are no guarantees that we can get this through the Congress this year. Obviously with the Colombian free trade agreement on hold and the Panamanian free trade agreement also in a position of limbo at this point it's difficult to be more reassuring than that.

But what the President has said, and he demonstrated it by going to a meeting the other day on this topic, is that we're going to work for it. And we hope that Congress will see the economic benefits that can be derived, because they're very apparent from this agreement. This is the largest free trade agreement since NAFTA. And every economic group that I know of says that it could add 25 percent to bilateral trade quite easily. That is something that would be good for American workers and American corporations, and so it should be something that the U.S. Congress should be eager to pass.

seen at 09:00, 4 August in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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