This from the newswires.  The Change to Win association of unions will present a new model for trade today, apparently. 

A new bill is being introduced, the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act.

The legislation would trigger a review of all existing trade agreements, and provide a process to renegotiate them. The bill also outlines principles of what should be included in future trade agreements, and expresses the sense of the Congress that the role of Congress in tradepolicymaking should be strengthened.

I don't know the details.  AFL-CIO and CtW may or may not be on the same page.  Most labor organizations are working in the right direction on trade.

We should also consider that U.S. trade policy is an overarching issue, of which trade agreements are a subset.  Our domestic trade laws are still the largest body of law on the matter.  Trade agreements merely affect parts of our trade laws.

The big question is how we reform trade policy to serve our interests.  Then the trade agreements would be measured against that standard.  Right now, the free traders just keep trying to get trade agreements through based upon tweaking past models.  That approach is a devastating failure. 

The South Korea FTA will still allow the country to continue charging a 10% value added tax on goods the U.S. exports to them.   

What is the U.S. VAT tariff?  0%.

So our exporters start out at a 10% price disadvantage, post FTA.  And they wonder why our trade deficit increases after every one of these FTAs.

Who would have thought?  Beef.

With his approval ratings hit hard by mass anxiety about American beef, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak backed away Tuesday from a wildly unpopular agreement to resume U.S. beef imports. He had personally approved the deal less than two months ago. 

The South Korean leader's approval rating is down below 20%. Astounding.

"We have lost the public's confidence over this matter," Lee told his cabinet Tuesday, according to a spokesman.

Plunging poll numbers apparently also played a role in Lee's decision. In office just 100 days, he has seen his approval ratings sink below 20 percent, a historic low so early in a South Korean president's term.

The Doha round of WTO talks, in Qatari, began in, I think, 500 B.C.  They are not done yet.  Pronounced dead several times.  But then we hear they are alive.  Like a bad episode of "Night of the Living Dead."  Most recently:

Global trade talks have stumbled again after a frustrated mediator suspended negotiations over industrial goods, complaining that it was “pointless to continue” because diplomats were refusing to negotiate.

You've heard of the WTO.  We signed it.  Other countries use it to sue the U.S. and win most of the time.  So we have to change our laws (the WTO does not appear in our Constitution).  And we never elected or appointed those tribunals that rule against us.  And the proceedings are secret. 

Wacko free trader arguments are getting funnier:

Advocates of a deal say that the need for an accord has been made more urgent by soaring food prices, ...

Yup.  If Doha is successful, the 2007 drought in Australia won't happen again. Neither will the 2007 drought in the Western U.S.  And U.S. currency values won't affect food prices.  And food will magically appear on the plates of the poor.  All because some guys and gals in Doha had a great vacation for a long time and signed a piece of paper.