U.S. TO PRESS SOUTH KOREA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA AND RUSSIAN TRADE

Washington, February 9 (Reuters)- President Barack Obama wants to win congressional approval of a free trade pact with South Korea in the next few months and to resolve issues blocking trade deals with Panama and Colombia "as soon as possible this year," the top U.S. trade official said on Wednesday.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, in testimony prepared for a House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee hearing, said the White House also wants Congress to remove a Cold War-era stain on relations with Russia by approving "permanent normal trade relations”.

Republicans, since winning control of the House and gaining seats in the Senate in November, have pressed Obama for a timetable for action on free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that were negotiated and signed during the administration of former President George W. Bush.

The deals have been stalled because of strong opposition from U.S. union groups and many rank-and-file Democrats, especially to the South Korea and Colombia pacts.

Even before the election, Obama said he wanted to resolve auto industry complaints that the South Korea agreement failed to open that country's market to American cars while phasing out remaining U.S. tariffs on South Korean vehicles.

But a deal to win the support of the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co, the original pact's harshest critics, did not come together until December 3.

"To bring home its promise -billions of dollars in exports and tens of thousands of jobs in America- the president intends to submit the U.S.-Korea trade agreement to Congress in the next few weeks and looks forward to working with you to secure its approval this spring," Kirk said in testimony for a hearing on the president's trade agenda.

U.S. labor groups still strongly oppose the Colombia agreement on the grounds that country has not done enough to stop the murders of trade unionists and prosecute those responsible for past killings.

Anti-Union violence

Business groups looking to expand exports say critics are ignoring the progress Colombia has made over the past decade to reduce violence. They have worked with Republicans to press the Obama administration to move forward on the pact.

They also want Congress to pass the agreement with Panama, which has been blocked by Democratic concerns over the country's tax secrecy laws and labor regulations.

"I can tell you today that the president has directed me to immediately intensify engagement with Colombia and Panama with the objective of resolving the outstanding issues as soon as possible this year and bringing those agreements to Congress for consideration immediately thereafter," Kirk said in the administration's clearest statement of intent yet.

A senior administration official, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said the White House wanted to follow the model of consultation with Congress and stakeholders used in the South Korean talks to reach deals with Panama and Colombia that have broad support.

Kirk also said the administration wanted to work with Congress "this year to grant Russia permanent normal trade relations, so that U.S. firms and workers fully benefit from Russia's accession to the WTO (World Trade Organization)”.

That would involve Congress lifting the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was passed in 1974 and tied U.S. trade relations with the Soviet Union to the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate freely.

Russia has been in compliance with the provision since the 1990s, but the law remains on the books and is a point of friction between the two countries as the Obama administration strives to improve relations.

Moscow hopes by May or June to finish a 17-year bid to join the World Trade Organization. If that occurs, the United States would be obligated under the term of a WTO agreement to remove the Jackson-Vanik amendment for Russia.

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