Colombia ambassador pushes free-trade pact
The Huntsville Times
Colombia ambassador pushes free-trade pact
28 October 2008
By Brian Lawson
Carolina Barco says deal will aid country’s stability
Colombia’s U.S. ambassador visited Huntsville on Monday to urge support for a U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement and to document her country’s recent success in reducing violence and spurring business growth.
The trade pact, supported by President Bush, has been stalled in the U.S. House. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members have raised questions about violence against union organizers in Colombia.
Carolina Barco, who spoke at a luncheon sponsored by the North Alabama International Trade Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the trade deal would open Colombian markets for U.S. goods and services, reduce tariffs, create jobs in both countries and strengthen the partnership between the two countries.
"This will aid our long-term political stability and social development," said Barco, who was born in the U.S. while her father was a student at MIT near Boston. "This trade agreement makes sense because we have complementary markets."
The Colombian congress has passed the measure twice; the second agreement expanded environmental and labor protections long sought by Democrats in U.S. trade deals.
U.S. exports to Colombia totaled more than $6.7 billion in 2006, and more than half of all U.S. exports to South America go to Colombia, according to U.S. Chamber figures.
The ambassador said there is no organized opposition in Colombia to the trade pact as it stands, regarding lower tariffs for U.S. exporters and expanding markets for farmers.
Barco said the U.S. exports corn, wheat and barley to Colombia, while her country exports bananas, papayas and flowers - including 40 percent of roses sold in the U.S. and 90 percent of carnations - to the U.S.
Under the proposed trade bill, tariffs on oats, corn and soybeans would drop to zero from the current range of 5 percent to 20 percent.
Alabama exported more than $150 million worth of goods to Colombia last year, chiefly machinery, chemicals, crops and transportation equipment.
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, who attended the luncheon, said he supports the trade pact. But he said neither House leaders nor President Bush have conceded much in trying to get the bill to the House floor.
U.S. Chamber representatives and Barco said they hoped that Congress could vote on the trade bill after the November elections, but before the next Congress is sworn in. If the bill reaches the floor, they said, it is expected to pass.
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said during the last presidential debate with Republican Sen. John McCain that he had concerns about the pact, given consistent violence against union organizers. McCain supports the measure.
Barco said since Colombia President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2001, the country’s murder rate has been cut in half. She said the murder rates in Bogota and Medellin last year were lower than in Washington.
Barco said Colombia has taken steps to improve its court system and offer protection to union leaders threatened with violence. She credited the eight-year-old partnership with the U.S. to battle drug trafficking as a key reason for a reduction in violence.
