MEDIA RELEASE

Statement released Wednesday by Sen. Daniel Akaka on free trade agreements:

While hard-working Americans still struggle to recover from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, I could not support the free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia with the risk that they would make it even more difficult to find a job.

And Colombia’s horrifying record of the extrajudicial, unpunished killings of labor organizers and the unresponsiveness of its government to the concerns of U.S. policymakers make it undesirable to enter into a free trade agreement.

I voted to support the FTA with Korea because this agreement will reinforce our strong relationship and enhance economic cooperation between our nations, built in part by the growing number of visitors to Hawaii and the robust Korean communities that have contributed to our island state since 1903.

Korea is the gateway to Asia and Hawaii, in the center of the Pacific, connects the East and West. I believe that this agreement will yield significant benefits for Hawaii.