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ReutersWASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's top lawmaker on international trade issued a stern missive this week to South Korea's president, warning that failure to end a row over beef imports will doom a newly minted trade pact.
"My support for (U.S.-Korea trade) agreement hinges on whether Korea commits to lift its unscientific ban on exports of American beef," Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in a letter to President Roh Moo-hyun.
In the letter, which was released on Wednesday, Baucus threatened to sink the bill in his committee, which oversees trade, unless "American beef is flowing into the Korean market," including bone-in cuts from animals of any age.
Meanwhile, a broad-based coalition of U.S. business groups wrote Baucus and other members of Congress to urge approval of the pact, which also faces strong opposition from organized labor and U.S. carmakers.
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