Obama Plans to Step Up Talks on Free Trade Pacts

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday pledged to “immediately intensify” talks with Colombia and Panama on two free trade agreements with the aim of submitting the accords to Congress by the end of the year.

The United States trade representative, Ron Kirk, who made the commitment at a House hearing, also said the administration would submit a revised Air Jordan free trade agreement with South Korea to Congress “in the next few weeks.”

That accord, which was first signed in 2007, hit a roadblock with Democrats that was cleared up with South Korea last December.

At the hearing, members of the new Republican majority in the House accused the White House of dragging its feet on the Colombia agreement, signed in 2006, and Panama agreement, signed in 2007, but did not move forward because of opposition Air Jordan 9 among Democrats in Congress.

Democrats reiterated objections to completing the two agreements: a legacy of violence against union organizers in Colombia, and weak laws in Panama on labor protections and tax enforcement. Supporters of the agreement say the problems have mostly been rectified, but Mr. Kirk said the concerns were significant.

“There remain serious issues to be resolved before these agreements can be submitted for Congressional consideration,” he said. “And some of these issues go to our core U.S. Christian Louboutin values and interest, such as the protection of labor rights. Any timetable will be contingent on the successful resolution of these issues.”

Mr. Kirk said American trade negotiators would go to Colombia next week, with a goal to develop “a workable plan” with human rights groups and other constituencies to address the concerns.

In a statement, the Colombian Embassy said the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos, who took office in August, had made human rights and labor rights a priority.

“Often it is convenient to leverage old arguments based on Colombia’s past, but the Colombia of today is a different nation, and it is time for Colombia to receive a fresh retro jordan assessment and recognition based on that reality,” the embassy said.

The hearing revealed sharp partisan divisions over trade. Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the United States risked falling behind Canada and the European Union, which have expanded trade to Latin America.

“We are seeing other Air Jordan 9 countries move forward dramatically,” he said. “We are losing market share.”

But Representative Sander M. Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee, said it was important not “to return to the failed policies of the past and approve flawed trade agreements,” a sentiment echoed by Mr. Kirk.

“We will not sign agreements just for agreement’s sake,” Mr. Kirk said in his opening remarks. “They must be enforceable and of the highest standard and in the interest of America’s workers, farmers, businesses and entrepreneurs.”

But Mr. Kirk also noted that public support for Jimmy choo shoes free trade, as measured in several opinion polls, had been declining.

“Our concern is, an overwhelming majority of Americans now disagree with the proposition that trade has been good for us,” he said. He also noted that trade was popular in the Plains states and in the West, but less so in the Rust Belt.