US close to deal with Colombia on trade pact
Financial Times
US close to deal with Colombia on trade pact
By Robin Harding, Richard McGregor and Tom Braithwaite in Washington
6 April 2011
The Obama administration has resolved the remaining barriers to a free-trade agreement with Colombia and expects to announce a deal by the end of the week, according to people briefed on the process.
A deal with Colombia would help Mr Obama’s goal of doubling US exports in the five years to 2014 and would demonstrate fresh momentum in his push for bilateral trade deals. His administration reached a deal with South Korea last December.
The deal would open the way for sending the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress for approval. The FTA was originally signed in 2006 by George W. Bush and Alvaro Uribe, both then presidents. However, Democrats in Congress refused to ratify it because of concerns about labour standards in Colombia.
After an instruction from Mr Obama to push for a deal, there has been a series of meetings between US and Colombian officials in recent weeks.
The talks have included discussion on protecting labour rights, preventing violence against labour leaders and prosecuting cases of such violence.
Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, told a Congressional committee on Tuesday that “very strong progress” had been made towards a deal. “In many cases we feel like we’re pushing on an open door,” he said in remarks reported by Reuters.
Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s president, has also recently said there had been movement in the trade talks. Mr Santos has been in New York this week to chair sessions of the UN Security Council.
“They have submitted a list of things they would like to see happen in Colombia and when I saw that list, that list is exactly what we want also,” Mr Santos told Bloomberg in an interview last week.
“There are no contradictions. We don’t want to violate the rights of the workers, we don’t want to violate human rights,” Mr Santos said.
There are signs that Congress is ready to pass a deal. Dave Camp, the powerful Republican chair of the House Ways & Means committee, has called on the Obama administration to send a Colombia FTA for approval.
Senate Republicans have also been pushing for a deal and Senate Democrats Max Baucus and John Kerry recently wrote an opinion piece in support.
Mr Kirk’s office declined to comment.
