Business urges Obama get off trade sidelines in Asia

By Doug Palmer and Paul Eckert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business groups on Monday urged President Barack Obama to use his upcoming trip to Asia to join talks on a regional free trade initiative and to set the stage for long-delayed congressional approval of a free trade pact with South Korea.

"We are standing on the sidelines while Asian nations clinch new deals," Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

"It's time to see action from Washington to expand trade with Asia in order to create jobs and avoid drawing a line down the middle of the Pacific," he said.

Obama heads to Asia on Thursday on a four-nation tour that begins in Japan before heading to Singapore for the annual summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and finishing with stops in China and South Korea.

In a pre-trip interview with Reuters on Monday, Obama said boosting exports was a crucial part of his economic agenda.

"It is particularly important for us when it comes to Asia as a whole to recognize that in the absence of a more robust export strategy, it is going to be hard for us to rebuild our manufacturing base and employment base," Obama said.

He also said U.S. manufacturers had "legitimate concerns" about their ability to sell their goods into China and that he would raise the issue of the value of that country's currency when he meets with Chinese leaders next week in Beijing.

U.S. business groups fear the United States could be left on the outside as China, Japan, South Korea and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations accelerate efforts toward regional economic integration.