Obama, South Korea’s Lee to Tour GM Plant in Michigan on Oct. 14

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will tour a General Motors Co. plant in Michigan on Oct. 14 to promote the pending trade agreement between the two countries, the White House said.

The leaders will tour GM’s Orion Assembly in Lake Orion, outside Detroit, and deliver remarks about how the agreement “will open up economic opportunities and support jobs on both sides of the Pacific,” according to a statement released today by the White House.

Lee will be in the U.S. next week on an official state visit, including a dinner at the White House on Oct. 13.

The South Korea deal, the biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, would boost U.S. exports by as much as $10.9 billion in the first year in which it’s in full effect, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. While the trade agreement was reached more than four years ago, it was delayed as lawmakers complained about South Korean barriers to imports of U.S. autos and beef.

--Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Bob Drummond

To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net