President Bush and other administration officials are continuing to push for congressional approval of a U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia. In recent remarks they asserted that the FTA will help U.S. companies expand their exports at a time when prospects for the domestic economy are uncertain. It will also strengthen Colombia against regional competitors such as Venezuela, whose president recently threatened to cut cross-border trade over a diplomatic dispute.
The administration is proceeding with its approach of leading delegations of U.S. lawmakers to Colombia to illustrate the progress that country has made against the violence that marred its past. Most recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led nine House Democrats on a visit to Medellin last week. While there, Rice said the FTA would help Colombia address the very problems that have caused concern in Congress. “Whatever the challenges facing Colombia, they are not going to be easier if this free trade deal does not pass. In fact, they will be harder,” an Associated Press article quoted her as saying. “The Bush administration’s support for the free trade deal is not because we believe that the Colombian story is perfect or complete but because we believe that in the context of the growth and economic activity that the free trade agreement will produce, Colombia will be better able to meet its problems.” Colombian President Alvaro Uribe echoed those remarks after meeting with Rice. “The more that the country is integrated with the international community, the more that the rights of workers will be respected, and the greater the opportunities for workers,” he said, according to a BBC News article. “If the country isolates itself and does not advance in matters of trade, it will be harder for workers’ rights to be respected.”
House members were cautious in their comments following the trip. Several said that Colombia’s turnaround has been “extraordinary,” and Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., said she is now “further inclined” to support the FTA. Others, however, remain concerned about the levels of violence against labor union leaders. A Reuters article cited Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., as saying that labor law reforms expected to be passed by the Colombian legislature in February “will at least influence whatever action Congress will take” on the FTA. Harman added that an expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program might improve the FTA’s chances as well. But Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., warned that there are other priorities in this shortened legislative year that could push consideration of the Colombia FTA into 2009.
President Bush urged legislators not to let that happen in his State of the Union address Jan. 28. “Today, our economic growth increasingly depends on our ability to sell American goods, crops, and services all over the world,” he said. As a result, “we are pursuing opportunities to open up new markets by passing free trade agreements. … These agreements will level the playing field. They will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers. And they will support good jobs for the finest workers in the world: those whose products say ‘Made in the USA’.”
Bush also warned that a failure to ratify the Colombia FTA, the first of the three now pending that the White House intends to submit to Congress, “will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere.” This was widely interpreted as a reference to Venezuela, whose president Hugo Chavez has consistently fought against U.S. economic and trade initiatives in the region. Over the last few years Chavez has withdrawn Venezuela from the Andean Community to protest the U.S.-Colombia FTA, criticized Brazilian lawmakers for delaying approval of Venezuela’s membership in the Mercosur trade bloc, and recruited Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia and now Dominica to join his Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) group.
The administration believes the Colombia FTA could help to minimize Chavez’s influence, which it sees as destabilizing. For example, Chavez threatened last week to virtually cut off cross-border trade with Colombia over a dispute involving his efforts to broker a hostage release deal with Colombian rebels. “This is going to keep getting worse,” a Bloomberg News article quoted him as saying. “Last year trade got to almost $5 billion – this year it should fall to $100 million.” Chavez also accused Colombia of conspiring with the U.S. to provoke Venezuela into a war. Some observers say these actions are an effort to deflect attention from Chavez’s declining support at home, as evidenced by a Dec. 2 vote against changes to the country’s constitution that would have strengthened his power.
World Trade/Interactive
