Obama, Lee to pitch trade deal in Michigan

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JIM KUHNHENN

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak are promoting a new trade deal by visiting an auto plant in Michigan, a state battered by Asian car imports, in a rare joint appearance outside of Washington by a U.S. president and a visiting head of state.

In choosing General Motors Co. (GM)'s Orion assembly plant for a post-state dinner tour Friday, the two leaders will draw attention to an aspect of a U.S.-South Korea trade agreement that had been among the most difficult to negotiate. Congress approved the deal Wednesday after negotiators overcame U.S. auto industry complaints that previous efforts at a deal failed to do enough to lift South Korea's barriers to U.S.-made cars.

Obama is taking Lee to the heart of the region that has been hardest hit by foreign car competition, especially the influx of vehicles like South Korea's Hyundai.

But for Obama, the trip is also an opportunity to highlight the auto industry's resurgence after he engineered an $80 billion government bailout for GM and Chrysler in 2009. The Orion plant, about 30 miles north of Detroit, had been shuttered before the federal government stepped in and helped usher the two carmakers through bankruptcy protection. The plant now is producing the subcompact Chevrolet Sonic and will start production of the compact Buick Verano soon.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111014/D9QC1J6O0.html

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President Barack Obama offers a toast during a State Dinner with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. Obama, Lee Myung-Bak To Pitch Trade Deal In Michigan

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak are promoting a new trade deal by visiting an auto plant in Michigan, a state battered by Asian car imports, in a rare joint appearance outside of Washington by a U.S. president and a visiting head of state.

In choosing General Motors Co.'s Orion assembly plant for a post-state dinner tour Friday, the two leaders will draw attention to an aspect of a U.S.-South Korea trade agreement that had been among the most difficult to negotiate. Congress approved the deal Wednesday after negotiators overcame U.S. auto industry complaints that previous efforts at a deal failed to do enough to lift South Korea's barriers to U.S.-made cars.

Obama is taking Lee to the heart of the region that has been hardest hit by foreign car competition, especially the influx of vehicles like South Korea's Hyundai.

But for Obama, the trip is also an opportunity to highlight the auto industry's resurgence after he engineered an $80 billion government bailout for GM and Chrysler in 2009. The Orion plant, about 30 miles north of Detroit, had been shuttered before the federal government stepped in and helped usher the two carmakers through bankruptcy protection. The plant now is producing the subcompact Chevrolet Sonic and will start production of the compact Buick Verano soon.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/14/obama-lee-myung-bak-michigan_n_1010579.html

[Demeter]

2. Chutzpah Will Have to Be Redefined

[russspeakeasy]

6. And so will "SOLD OUT"

[Enrique]

3. pitching it after it passed

did he ever pitch it before it passed?

[pampango]

4. Since the UAW supported it, Detroit may be the safest place for the South Korean president to go.

Bob King: "The UAW fully supports this trade agreement because the automotive provisions, which are very different from those negotiated by President George W. Bush in 2007, will create significantly greater market access for American auto exports and include strong, auto-specific safeguards to protect our domestic markets from potentially harmful surges of Korean automotive imports."

http://www.freep.com/article/20111014/OPINION05/110140356/Guest-commentary-UAW-backs-Korea-trade-agreement?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs

[Fuddnik]

5. Pitch it in Lake Huron, where it belongs.