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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Ballmer, Immelt Urge Obama to Move Quickly on Korea Trade Deal<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'> (Bloomberg) -- Chief executive officers of Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other large U.S. companies urged President Barack Obama to move quickly on his pledge to pass a free-trade agreement with South Korea.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>“Decisive and quick progress on the Korea agreement is especially vital given that the European Union and Korea have signed their own trade pact which, once implemented, will put U.S. companies and their workers at an even greater disadvantage,” the executives wrote in a letter to Obama today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The letter was signed by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Jeffrey Immelt of GE, Wal-Mart’s Michael Duke and nine other chief executives. The pending agreement with South Korea, which was signed in 2007, is opposed by unions and Ford Motor Co., which argues that the Asian nation keeps unfair technical barriers to its exports while enjoying free access to the U.S. market.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The executives said the administration’s vow to make progress on automobile and beef exports to Korea should “be accomplished quickly and take into account the fact that progress on each of these issues has already been made.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The Obama administration vowed to alter the pact’s auto provisions in order to address the concerns of Ford, the unions, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that failure to enact the accord with the world’s 14th-largest economy means the loss of $35 billion in exports and 345,000 jobs. South Korea signed a rival agreement with the European Union last year that calls for 99 percent of commerce to be duty-free within five years. That deal is awaiting ratification.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The trade negotiations have security implications and are a sign of U.S. commitment to South Korea as a critical strategic ally in Asia. Tensions in the region remain elevated after an international panel last month blamed North Korea for sinking the South Korean warship Cheonan in March.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Obama is aiming to wrap up efforts on the pact in time for a summit of the Group of 20 leaders in Korea in November.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>--Editors</span><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> </span><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/07/another-big-biz-letter-to-obama-pushes-for-more-action-on-trade-agreements.html" target="_self"><span style='color:#1111CC'>Another Big Biz Letter to Obama Pushes for More Action on Trade Agreements</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#777777'>ABC News (blog)</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Signatories include Harold McGraw III of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Jim Owens of Caterpillar, Jeffrey Immelt of GE, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, <b>...</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><b><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/common/redirect.jsp?news_id=20100715000670&category_id=" target="_self"><span style='color:#1111CC'>US CEOs press Obama on Korea FTA</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#777777'>The Korea Herald</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chief executive officers of Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other large US companies urged President Barack Obama to move <b>...</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:15.6pt'><a name=quotes></a><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><hr size=1 width="100%" noshade style='color:#C9D7F1' align=center></span></div><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td width=25 valign=top style='width:18.75pt;padding:0in 4.5pt 0in 6.0pt'></td><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>...meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak at the G-20 in Toronto, Canada, last month, President Obama said the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement is "the right thing to do for our country, it is the right thing to do for Korea. It will strengthen our commercial ties and it will create enormous potential economic benefits to create jobs."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>more by <b><a href="http://news.google.com/news/quote?pz=1&cf=q&ned=us&hl=en&qsid=tPjE5CDNzMicmM"><span style='color:#1111CC'>Barack Obama</span></a></b> - 20 hours ago - <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/07/another-big-biz-letter-to-obama-pushes-for-more-action-on-trade-agreements.html"><span style='color:#1111CC'>ABC News (blog)</span></a> <span style='color:#777777'>(508 occurrences)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td width=25 valign=top style='width:18.75pt;padding:0in 4.5pt 0in 5.25pt'></td></tr></table><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><hr size=1 width="100%" noshade style='color:#C9D7F1' align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><b><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/48331-1.html?mostemailed=1" target="_self"><span style='color:#1111CC'>Big Business to Congress: Approve Stalled Trade Deals</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#777777'>Roll Call (subscription)</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> - <a href="http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=author:%22Matthew+Murray%22&scoring=n"><span style='color:#4272DB'>Matthew Murray</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Ahead of President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to South Korea, large corporations such as Caterpillar, Citibank, Coca-Cola and General <b>...</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><b><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=104962&code=Ne2&category=2" target="_self"><span style='color:#1111CC'>US Ambassador to Korea Says Obama Aims to Wrap up Efforts on KORUS FTA by November</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#777777'>Arirang News</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>US Ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens says US President Barack Obama is aiming to wrap up efforts to ratify the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement by November <b>...</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.6pt'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=obama+korea&ncl=dLz25kSFu0rdldMQshoNTHoxZnejM"><span style='color:#228822'>All 12 related articles »</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>: James Callan, Larry Liebert<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>