Obama Touts Asia Trade for US Economic Recovery

U.S. President Barack Obama says trade with Asia is crucial to U.S. economic recovery.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Mr. Obama stressed that the U.S. needs to place a greater emphasis on exports in order for the economy to grow.

The address, published in advance on the White House Web site, was recorded in South Korea during Mr. Obama's first presidential trip to Asia.

He said Asia does the most trade with the U.S. and that the U.S. could gain economically from intensifying the trade relationship even further, saying if the U.S. could increase exports there by 5 percent, it could lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

And he recapped diplomatic moves from his tour, including a joint message with Russia and China to Iran on North Korea on their nuclear programs and a set of clean energy agreements with China.