Reply #1: Republicans to press trade representative on Obama agenda

[Judi Lynn]

Republicans to press trade representative on Obama agenda
WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 2, 2011 6:22pm EST

(Reuters) - Trade Representative Ron Kirk will be pressed to lay out President Barack Obama's trade priorities for 2011 when testifies before a congressional trade panel next week, a Republican congressman said on Wednesday.

"I look forward to hearing Ambassador Kirk in his first appearance before the committee as he lays out the president's trade priorities," House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said in a statement.

Camp said he would press Kirk next Wednesday on when the White House plans to submit free trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia to Congress for votes.

The hearing will also focus on China trade concerns, prospects for finishing the Doha round of world trade talks, U.S. trade negotiations in the Asia Pacific and Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization, Camp said.

Kirk has never testified in public before the House Ways and Means Committee although he has been Obama's chief trade negotiator since March 2009.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-usa-trade-congress-idUSTRE7119OZ20110202?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=401