WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Americans to show patience over the economy and argued that his just-concluded Asia trip was critical for U.S. exports, countering criticism he had returned empty-handed. With unemployment at a generation high of 10.2 percent and once-lofty popularity ratings down, Obama said a December White House forum will leave no stone unturned in the hunt for jobs. “Even though it will take time, I can promise you this: we are moving in the right direction; that the steps we are taking are helping,” Obama said in his weekly address, amid signs that the public is getting impatient for results. A Gallup poll on Friday showed Obama’s job approval rating had dropped to 49 percent, the first time he has fallen below 50 percent in this survey, as Americans express dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy and other issues. Obama’s remarks on the economy were his first in public since returning to Washington after an 8-day Asian tour where critics said he had failed to win significant concessions on trade or currency manipulation from partners like China. But Obama said that progress had been made with Russia and China in sending a unified message to Iran and North Korea about giving up nuclear weapons “or face the consequences,” while also maintaining pressure to stimulate growth. “Above all, I spoke with leaders in every nation I visited about what we can do to sustain this economic recovery and bring back jobs and prosperity for our people,” he said. U.S. growth jumped in the third quarter, ending the longest economic slump the country has suffered in 70 years, but this has not yet translated into a faster pace of hiring. Obama’s Dec. 3 jobs forum will gather leaders from business and labor to review how to boost credit to small business, encourage firms to hire and boost green jobs and other ideas. But the White House has already said it will not be about a second stimulus package, potentially limiting how much of a dent the initiative will be able to make in the 15.7 million Americans who were drawing unemployment aid in October. Obama signaled that any measures hammered out during the jobs conference would have to be fiscally responsible. “It is important that we do not make any ill-considered decisions — even with the best of intentions — particularly at a time when our resources are so limited. “But it is just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work. That’s what I hope to achieve in this forum,” he said. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington) (Reporting by Alister Bull ; Editing by Sandra Maler ) See the original post here: Obama asks Americans for patience on economy (at Reuters)

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SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea said Thursday it is ready for talks to ease US automakers’ concerns about a stalled free trade agreement, as US President Barack Obama cautioned that several issues must still be settled. The deal signed in June 2007 still awaits ratification by Congress amid US demands for greater market access for its cattlemen and carmakers. The delay is a potential irritant in otherwise close relations. South Korea shipped about 700,000 cars to the United States in 2007 while just 5,000 moved in the opposite direction, official figures show. Analysts in Seoul say the figures exclude more than 125,000 vehicles made by a General Motors subsidiary in Korea while including vehicles made by a Hyundai plant in Alabama. “The trade between South Korea and the US is balanced,” Lee insisted after summit talks with Obama, who was on the last stop of his debut Asian tour. “If the US thinks there is a problem in the auto (sector), we are ready to discuss it again because we have also forged an FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the European Union, one of the world’s biggest auto-producing regions,” Lee told a joint press conference. “If there is a problem in the auto sector, I think we can have an opportunity to talk about this issue again. We are ready to do it.” The United States is South Korea?s fourth largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth almost 85 billion dollars in 2008. The two leaders both stressed the FTA has a strategic dimension in strengthening the alliance, as well as an economic one. In their talks they reaffirmed the “economic and strategic importance” of the FTA, Lee said. “We agreed to redouble our efforts to move the agreement forward.” Obama also said he is committed to making progress. Related article: Obama addresses North Korea, trade and Iran “There are still issues that are being discussed and worked on,” he added, without giving any timeframe for ratification. Obama professed himself a “strong believer” in the pact’s benefits but cited concerns in his country “around the incredible trade imbalances that have grown over the last several decades”. “Those imbalances are not as prominent with Korea but there is, I think, a tendency to lob all of Asia together,” Obama said. “One of my goals is to make sure that as we work through these issues the American people and American business and workers recognise that we have to look at each agreement in each country on its own merits.” Seoul has opposed any formal renegotiation of what would be the biggest US trade pact since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Lee’s spokeswoman has called on Obama to take a “more aggressive” position on ratifying the pact. While the auto trade is the main US concern, cattlemen also want South Korea to open its beef market wider. The country was once the world’s third-largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million dollars per year until they were suspended in 2003 after a US case of mad cow disease. In hopes of pushing ahead with the wider free trade deal, Seoul in April 2008 agreed to resume imports of most cuts of US beef. But the pact sparked months of mass street protests. The sometimes violent rallies subsided only after Seoul secured extra health safeguards for the meat. US cattlemen say these should be relaxed. See the article here: South Korea offers talks on stalled US trade pact

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– For more stories on Obama’s visit, click [ID:nOBAMAASIA] * Obama continues gestures of goodwill * Meetings seen as setting priorities for future dealings * Obama next heads to South Korea with North Korea a focus (Updates with meeting with Premier Wen in paras 1-5) By Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama continued courting China in talks with Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday, opening an opportunity to press him on the economic and currency strains that have shadowed his goodwill visit. Obama’s first trip to China has been a mix of goodwill displays towards its sometimes wary people and leaders and closed-door discussions focused on the two big powers’ vast and increasingly complex relationship. Wednesday was no different. Obama held talks with Wen and was then scheduled to visit the Great Wall, for Chinese people a proud symbol of their imperial heritage. He is then scheduled to leave for South Korea. The meeting with Wen, the head of the Chinese government, gave Obama a chance to raise touchy economic and diplomatic issues behind closed doors. But in their opening remarks before reporters, at least, both leaders stuck to upbeat phrases. “Mutual trust will help us move forward, while misgivings will take us back,” said Wen. Obama already made plain in a summit with President Hu Jintao on Tuesday that he wants movement on China’s currency policy. Many in Washington believe Beijing keeps the yuan too low in value, putting competitors at a disadvantage and distorting global economic flows. Hu, who is also the head of China’s Communist Party, avoided mentioning the yuan or the dollar in his comments before reporters. But Wen, who is more deeply involved in day-to-day economic affairs, may have been more willing to grapple with Obama on currency and China’s own gripes with U.S. trade rules. SETTING DIRECTION Officials and experts from both sides have stressed, however, that Obama’s visit will not bring about immediate policy shifts. “There will still be setbacks and even conflicts between China and the United States”, said a commentary in the overseas edition of China’s official People’s Daily.  Continued… Continue reading here: Obama meets Wen as China visit winds down (at Reuters)

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* Obama, Hu to wrangle over trade and currencies * North Korea, Iran also on the agenda * Chinese emphasise “equal relationship” * China’s growing global strength on display By Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama held much-anticipated talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Tuesday, with trade friction, the yuan currency and diplomatic headaches such as Iran and North Korea high on the agenda. Obama meets China’s Hu; focus on economic strains (at Reuters) is a post from: Investor Central – centralized penny stock, pink sheet and OTC BB news. Go here to see the original: Obama meets China’s Hu; focus on economic strains (at Reuters)

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SHANGHAI (AP) — Politely but firmly pressing for greater freedoms on China’s own turf, President Barack Obama spoke against censorship Monday, saying tough criticisms of political leaders should be allowed and the free flow of information on the Internet “should be encouraged.” AP – U.S. President Barack Obama points to a member of the audience as he takes questions during a town … Opening his first-ever visit to China, a critically important U.S. partner on economic and security matters, Obama said crucial problems cannot be solved unless the world’s only superpower and its rising competitor work together. “More is gained when great powers cooperate than when they collide,” he said. But on a visit that had him wading into sensitive territory with his tightly controlled host country, Obama also openly prodded Beijing to accept what he called “universal rights.” “We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation,” Obama said at a town hall with Chinese university students, believed to be the most extensive such forum held by a U.S. president on Chinese soil. But, he said, such things as freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation “should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation.” He took eight questions, half from audience members and half from among the hundreds submitted over the Internet, in a session that the White House negotiated with the Chinese government up to the last minute. Obama spoke at the most length, and in the most animated terms near the end, when answering a question about China’s firewall that blocks access to many Internet sites. “I’m a big supporter of non-censorship,” Obama said. “I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.” Given where Obama was speaking, such a comment was pointed. And he appeared to be talking directly to China’s leaders when he said that he believes free discussion, including criticism that may be annoying to him, makes him “a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear.” China has more than 250 million Internet users and employs some of the world’s tightest controls over what they see. The country is often criticized for having the so-called “Great Firewall of China,” which refers to technology designed to prevent unwanted traffic from entering or leaving a network. Obama’s town hall was not broadcast live across China on television. It was shown on local Shanghai TV and streamed online on two big national Internet portals, but the quality was choppy and hard to hear. U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman called Obama’s event the first ever town-hall meeting held by a U.S. president in China. Yet former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also spoke to students and took questions from them during stops in China. With a smile, Obama said he has never used the popular social networking site Twitter. But he broadly defended unrestricted Internet access as “a source of strength.” And he said the free flow of information, including criticisms of his presidency, has helped by forcing him to consider other opinions. The town hall was considered a signature event of Obama’s weeklong trip to Asia. He was to end his day in Beijing in meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the U.S. remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world. Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing, particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the U.S. regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products. At the town hall, one student asked him about the honor and burden of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He said he is a symbol of the shift in world affairs that his administration is trying to promote, but reiterated that he didn’t think he had deserved the award. Obama said there are few global challenges that can be solved unless the U.S. and China cooperate. As nations prepare for next month’s climate change conference in Copenhagen, Obama said leaders will be watching what the U.S. and China do. He says “that is the burden of leadership that both of our countries now carry.” The two nations are working together more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran’s uranium enrichment. Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world’s third-largest economy on the way to becoming the second and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington. One closely watched test of the line Obama is walking on China will be how he addresses human rights, including religious freedom in the officially atheist nation. Aides said in advance that Obama would raise several human rights issues privately with Chinese leaders, including President Hu. The White House hoped Monday’s town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible. But those hopes had their limits in communist-ruled China. Obama’s China visit features the only sightseeing of his high-intensity Asian journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Visiting a country’s noted landmarks is considered a sign of respect in the world of diplomacy. But Obama aides also have learned that finding some tourist time serves to both calm and energize their boss amid the always grueling schedule of a foreign trip. Continued here: Obama pushes freedoms, open Internet in China (AP)

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* Economic imbalances, yuan’s future on summit agenda * N. Korea, Iran, climate pact also topics for talks * Chinese paper says nations like “conjoined twins” * Obama “town hall” event may raise Tibet, rights By Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle SHANGHAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama faces tensions with China over trade and Tibet on his first visit to the emerging superpower for a summit that will grapple with economic imbalances and the future of the yuan currency. Obama arrived in Shanghai, China’s commercial hub, late on Sunday and is due to meet city officials and hold a town hall-style meeting with young people before heading to Beijing later on Monday. Chinese state-run Internet sites have asked the public for questions to quiz Obama at the youth meeting, and many urged him to explain if he plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom Beijing brands a separatist. These events will be a warm-up for Obama’s summit with President Hu Jintao in the capital on Tuesday that will cover trouble-spots such as North Korea and Iran, and efforts to forge a new climate pact. Obama has said he will also raise the sensitive subjects of human rights, and sometimes tense trade ties and China’s yuan currency CNY=CFXS , seen by U.S. industry as significantly undervalued and stoking unsustainable global economic imbalances. “The president will be talking about balanced, strong sustainable growth and the policies that go into making that happen,” a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Obama’s message won backing from the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who said on Monday that a stronger yuan was needed to help Beijing encourage more domestic consumption and ease global imbalances. [ID:nPEK158236] But at a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore over the weekend, Hu pointedly ignored international calls for his government to raise the value of the yuan and make Chinese exports relatively more expensive. He and other senior Chinese officials have instead accused other countries — implicitly including the United States — of embracing damaging trade protectionism aimed at Chinese goods. But having already made their gripes clear before the summit, Obama and Hu may avoid sharp public jabs as they focus on building goodwill between the the world’s biggest and third biggest economies. TRADE ROWS GROW  Continued… See the original post here: Obama in China faces tensions on trade and Tibet (at Reuters)

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SHANGHAI (AP) — President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on his first trip to China, seeking to enlist help in tackling urgent global problems while weighing when and how — or if — he should raise traditional human rights concerns. AP – U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Eugene … Obama arrived in Shanghai late at night, in a driving rain, hustling through a phalanx of umbrella-holding dignitaries to reach his limousine. On Monday, the president is holding talks with local politicians and, in one of the marquee events of his weeklong Asian trip, conducting an American-style town hall discussion with Chinese university students. Thirty years after the start of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the ties are growing — but remain mixed on virtually every front. The two nations are partnering more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran’s uranium enrichment. China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the U.S. remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world. Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing, particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the U.S. regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products. Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world’s third-largest economy on the way to becoming the second and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington. Second, Obama wants not to anger Beijing, but to encourage it to pair its growing economic and political clout with greater leadership in solving some of the most urgent global problems, including a sagging economy, warming planet and the spread of dangerous weapons. Obama has talked warmly toward China, particularly in the days leading up to his visit. “The United States does not seek to contain China,” Obama said in a speech from Tokyo on Saturday. “On the contrary, the rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations.” One test of the line Obama is walking on China will be human rights, including religious freedom in the officially atheist nation. Aides said in advance that Obama would raise several human rights issues privately with Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao. But it was unlikely he would repeat those messages too stridently in public, out of concern for angering his hosts. Even before arriving in China, for example, he declined to get specific about human rights concerns with China in his Tokyo speech and eschewed the traditional presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama while he was in Washington in June. Obama said he would see the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader later, a decision welcomed by Chinese officials who pressure foreign governments not to meet with the Dalai Lama and spurn Tibetans’ desires for autonomy from Chinese rule. The White House hoped Monday’s town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible. But those hopes will have their limits in communist-ruled, tightly controlled China. The particulars of the town hall, including whether it could even be called one, were the subject of delicate negotiations between the White House and the Chinese up to the last minute. It remained unclear, for instance, whether — and how broadly — it would be broadcast on television and how much of a hand the central government had in choosing those allowed to question the U.S. president. Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama would call at random on several of those in the audience, to be made up of hundreds of students hand-picked by the department heads of Shanghai-area universities, and would also answer questions solicited in advance by the White House from “various sources on the Internet.” Even if the event is only aired on China’s main English-language TV channel, which has very few viewers, the White House will stream the conversation live on http://www.whitehouse.gov , an unblocked site in China. From Shanghai, Obama was to be off to the capital of Beijing for the pomp and substance of a two-day state visit hosted for Obama by Hu. Obama’s China visit features the only sightseeing of his high-intensity Asian journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Visiting a country’s noted landmarks is considered a sign of respect in the world of diplomacy. But Obama aides also have learned that finding some tourist time serves to both calm and energize their boss amid the always grueling schedule of a foreign trip. Follow this link: In first visit to China, Obama walks a tightrope (AP)

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