When Mr. Obama announced during his State of the Union speech last week that he wanted to double exports, he praised the idea of forging stronger trade ties with Panama, Colombia and Korea. But pointedly stopped short of urging lawmakers to approve the deals, which had been signed by Mr. Bush. Some Democrats in Congress have linked the Colombia accord to violence against trade unionists, and some lawmakers from the Midwest on both sides of the aisle complain that South Korea has not done enough to open up its markets to American cars. Administration officials said the export initiative would provide more financing for export promotion and would identify markets for fast-growing areas like green energy and environmental goods and services, health care and biotechnology.
