Colombia lobbies U.S. lawmakers to approve FTA

With time running out in the 2008 U.S. legislative calendar and a presidential election on the horizon, senior Colombian government officials, including President Uribe, are in Washington this week to make a final pitch to lawmakers to approve the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement before the end of the year.

House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, effectively placed a hold on approving the FTA in April. Many Democrats, in particular, oppose the trade pact because of paramilitary violence against labor activists in Colombia.

Colombian government officials say, even without a FTA with the United States, they have taken tremendous steps in the past three years to combat violence against trade unionists and reduce drug trafficking.

U.S. Congress's inaction on the U.S.-Columbia FTA is almost like sanctions, and we haven't done anything wrong, said Luis G. Plata, Colombian Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, to a gathering of reporters at the National Foreign Trade Council's headquarters in Washington Sept. 17. We're fighting the drug traffickers and terrorism.

Plata cited the Uribe administration's efforts to bring the murderers of the trade unionists to justice, and the government has strengthened protections for the unionists.

The Uribe administration has become increasingly frustrated with the apparent inaction in Washington to approve the FTA. Plata said the Colombian congress has already signed off twice on the FTA in two years and it even received approval from Colombia's constitutional court.

Plata said Colombia continues to successfully enter FTAs with other countries, including most recently Canada.

U.S. exporters are equally frustrated with the leadership on Capitol Hill for its failure to approve the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

By failing to pass this, Congress is telling our (Colombian) customers to buy Canadian products, said Bill Lane, Washington director for government affairs at Caterpillar.

Lane said the first day the U.S.-Columbia FTA takes effect tariffs will be eliminated for U.S. exports of heavy equipment. If you eliminate taxes on American products, you make American products more attractive, he said.

Heavy equipment makers, like Caterpillar, say the FTA with Colombia will level the competitive playing field for tapping the South American country's extensive mining industry. They continue to lobby lawmakers to approve the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

From a business perspective, we recognize the improvements being made in Colombia, said Anne Marie Padgett, global public policy manager for the Washington-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers. I believe something will definitely get done.

Source: American Shipper