A House bill that would lay down strict new trade standards now has the support of more than half the Democratic caucus, reports CongressDaily (subscription). California Democrat George Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's top lieutenants, endorsed the bill after a Jan. 8 speech in which he criticized violence against union workers in Colombia and reaffirmed his stance against the U.S.' major trade deals dating back to NAFTA. The bill's sponsor, Democrat Michael Michaud of Maine, said, "I remain hopeful that the administration will embrace a new trade agenda that is forward-thinking and that protects U.S. jobs and businesses."

The U.S. winds down the year ready to keep trying on a trade agreement with South Korea, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says. Reuters reports that Kirk said South Korea's pact with the European Union "creates a little more sense of urgency for us because we don't want to further disadvantage U.S. interests."

South Korea is one of three trade deals held over from the Bush White House that Obama has yet to sign. AP reports: "There's opposition to Colombia because of violence against labor leaders there, Panama because of its status as a tax haven and South Korea because of its restrictions on U.S. beef and auto imports." House Republicans are urging Obama to sign all three, saying they'll work with him.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative touts a proposed new alliance with nations on both sides of the Pacific as a jobs engine. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will "contribute significantly" to new employment, create jobs that pay 13 percent to 18 percent better than the U.S. average and increase national income, according to a fact sheet put out by the office.

Bloomberg News reports, however, that Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., says Congress will be a tough sell unless Vietnam allows workers to unionize.

In an interview with National Journal, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk refused to dismiss Michaud's TRADE Act as protectionism and said the administration has tried to be sensitive to the concerns raised. At the same time, he said, "I have also been very honest with them that I think that if the legislation passed as written, as well intentioned as it is, it would put the United States in the practical [position] of saying we are going to take a two- or three-year time-out, which I think is not at all in our economic interest."

Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, reintroduced a bill that would give Congress broad oversight of trade agreements and restrictions on what can and can't be a part of them. The labor provisions include detailed breakdowns of existing pacts' effect on the U.S. economy and requirements that new deals only be made with nations that observe "core labor standards": free association and the option of collective bargaining; no forced labor or child labor; and anti-discrimination policies.

In an appearance with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama reinforced his pledge to update and reinforce NAFTA's environmental and labor protections, but in a way "that is not disruptive to the extraordinarily important trade relationships that exist between the United States and Canada."

A few days before Obama's trip to Canada -- his first foreign visit as President -- he said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: "NAFTA -- the basic framework of the agreement has environmental and labor protections as side agreements. My argument has always been that we might as well incorporate them into the full agreement so that they're fully enforceable." He added, however, that "Canada is one of our most important trading partners" and that "it is not in anybody's interests to see that trade diminish."

In Obama's first meeting with a foreign leader as president-elect, he told Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Jan. 12 that he hoped to "upgrade" the environmental and labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. But Ron Kirk, Obama's choice for U.S. trade representative, has long been a supporter of NAFTA (and free trade with China).