US, S Korea sign free-trade pact
Washington: The US and South Korea have entered into a free-trade agreement (FTA), though the US Congress is expected it may not approve the pact.

Democratic lawmakers have vowed to vote against the FTA unless it is amended to address South Korea's non-tariff barriers, especially in the automotive industry.

The Republicans say the signed FTA 'will stand on its own, without amendment,' and add the Democrat-controlled Congress 'will come to understand the details and learn just how compelling a deal it is.'

Bush, in a written statement, said the FTA will generate export opportunities for US farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and service suppliers, promote economic growth and the creation of better paying jobs in the US, and help American consumers save money while offering them greater choices.

The agreement is the biggest US free-trade deal since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the two sides concluded negotiations on the pact on April 1 after 10 months of talks.
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Chinese asks US to revoke seafood ban
Beijing: China wants the United States to quickly revoke the "indiscriminate" ban on four kinds of seafood exports quickly and properly deal with the problem.

According to the director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Li Changjiang, China will not accept the indiscriminate and automatic detention of four kinds of Chinese seafood by the United States and the ban on importing those products."

Li made the remarks during a telephone conversation with US Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, urging him to deal with the issue after Washington announced the ban some Chinese seafood Thursday.

Li said China also detected many substandard foodstuffs among US exports to China every year, and these problems were properly handled in the principle of cooperation.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it would detain three types of Chinese farm-raised fish -- catfish, basa and dace -- as well as shrimp and eel unless suppliers could prove the shipments contained no harmful residues unapproved in the US for use in farmed seafood.
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