U.S. Senator John Thune says President Barack Obama should immediately submit to Congress bills seeking the ratification of free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.

In the American political newspaper, The Politico, Thune said Thursday in a contributing article that Americans fall further behind the competition when trade deals that could open new markets are not acted on.

The senator said Obama should submit the trade deals for consideration immediately and Congress should ratify the pacts as the first order of business next month “before the U.S. loses even more business opportunities to the European Union, Canada and others.”

Thune said the issue of expanding the Trade Adjustment Assistance program should be acted on separately from the trade deals so the “market-opening, job-creating measures can go into effect as soon as possible.”

Thune is the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and serves as the ranking member on the Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness.