White House and congressional negotiators have made some progress on issues blocking approval of free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama but there is no deal yet, sources familiar with the discussions said Tuesday.
The agreements have been held up over a disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal retraining program for workers who have lost their jobs because of foreign competition.
The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that a bipartisan compromise had been reached to move the trade pacts by inserting a renewal of TAA into the legislation for the Korean deal.
A source familiar with the discussions and who asked not to be identified confirmed that was under serious consideration. But the source said Republicans had not agreed to it.
A second source said he had heard of plans to include TAA in the legislation for the South Korean agreement, the biggest of the three pending trade deals.
That would force Republicans to choose between their opposition for TAA or their support for the Korean pact, which like, the other two trade deals, was originally negotiated during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush.
The second source said he also had heard of plans to include renewal of two trade preference programs for developing countries within the implementing legislation for the Colombia agreement, the most controversial of the three pacts.
Both the Andean Trade Preferences Act and the Generalized System of Preferences expired early this year. They provide duty-free access for thousands of goods from poor countries to help them create jobs.
