Obama says Pacific tour opened markets

NUSA DUA – US President Barack Obama said his week-long Pacific tour had made progress in prising open markets for US goods as he headed back to do political combat in Washington.

“Over the past week, the progress we’ve made in opening markets and boosting exports here will help create more jobs and more growth in the United States,” said Obama in his weekly Internet and radio address recorded in Indonesia.

The president highlighted the biggest commercial airline deal ever clinched by Boeing, to supply 230 737 jets worth $21.7 billion to Indonesia’s Lion Air, as well as smaller deals involving US firms and Asian markets.

“These agreements will help us reach my goal of doubling American exports by 2014— a goal we’re on pace to meet,” he said in the address released late Saturday.

“And they’re powerful examples of how we can rebuild an economy that’s focused on what our country has always done best – making and selling products all over the world that are stamped with three proud words: “Made In America.”

“As the fastest-growing region in the world, no market is more important to our economic future than the Asia Pacific – a region where our exports already support five million American jobs,” Obama said.

The president touted a new free trade pact with South Korea as more evidence that despite tough times, America still had the world’s most dynamic economy.

Obama spent a week touring the Pacific, stopping in his native Hawaii to host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and then travelling to Australia and then the East Asia summit in Bali, Indonesia.