Obama tries to woo business, assails "burdensome" tax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama stepped up efforts to woo the U.S. business community on Monday, seeking their help to tackle "burdensome" corporate taxes, but offering no new initiatives.

Obama, on a drive to win over business and independent voters before the 2012 presidential election, also repeated a promise to advance trade deals with Panama and Colombia that would help U.S. companies.

"Another barrier government can remove is a burdensome corporate tax code with one of the highest rates in the world," Obama told the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, reiterating a pledge from his State of the Union address last month.

The Chamber audience listened politely, but was mostly muted in response to the president's remarks.

Calling taxes a burden chimes with the view of the corporate world, and is another example of his efforts to repair relations between the White House and businesses after steep losses by his Democrats in November elections.

Chastened by that defeat, Obama has tried to do a better job of communicating with the business community, dialing down a sometimes acrimonious debate during his first two years in office.

Business had fought Obama's massive overhaul of Wall Street regulation and reform of the healthcare system, and resented the president's sharp rhetoric on executive pay during the height of the financial crisis.

The White House, while irritated by the Chamber's opposition to policies it says will help the economy, has sought to mend relations with softer presidential rhetoric and staffing choices that appeal to the business community.

Obama picked Bill Daley, formerly of JPMorgan Chase, to be his chief of staff and recently brought on General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt as his new top outside economic adviser. He also agreed on a tax deal with Republicans last year and has promoted initiatives to boost U.S. exports.

CORPORATE TAX

While talk of cutting overall corporate tax rates goes down well with some American companies, Obama might upset others by closing loopholes and slashing deductions [ID:nN0447125].

Business had hoped Obama would outline a way forward on Monday for stalled trade agreements with Panama and Columbia. But the president made only brief reference to those pacts and did not discuss a timetable for getting them passed.

"We finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs -- a deal that has unprecedented support from business and labor, Democrats and Republicans," he said.

"That's the kind of deal I'll be looking for as we pursue trade agreements with Panama and Columbia and work to bring Russia into the international trading system."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell urged Obama in a letter on Monday to do more to promote trade agreements for Colombia and Panama.

Obama is promoting policies to bring down an unemployment rate of 9.0 percent, and repeated his call from Saturday for business to step up investment and hiring to mobilize "nearly $2 trillion sitting on their balance sheets."

"Many of your own economists and salespeople are now forecasting a healthy increase in demand. So I want to encourage you to get in the game," Obama said.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan, Alister Bull and Jeff Mason, Editing by Sandra Maler and Philip Barbara)

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