by Richard Morrison
July 3, 2008

Washington, D.C., July 2, 2008—Congress should stop stalling and move quickly to approve the pending free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia, according to a new study published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“The United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement deserves a speedy vote,” write Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith and Research Associate Ryan Young. “Congressional leaders say that President George W. Bush did not follow ‘protocol’ in sending the agreement to Congress over members’ expressed opposition, so they are overriding the legal procedures and timetables for voting on the agreement. Thus, sound policy is held hostage to politics.”

The agreement would benefit both nations’ economies and would be a positive foreign policy gesture. The trade pact is especially important for the U.S., which lately has been impacted by high energy prices and anemic economic growth. The nine thousand American companies that do business with Colombia stand to benefit – and so do consumers.

“With Latin America currently beset by a wave of anti-American populism, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement would consolidate a key alliance in that crucial region,” said Fran Smith. “Moreover, the U.S. has a responsibility to deal fairly with the people of Colombia and their elected representatives, who have negotiated in good faith and shown patience throughout the approval process.”

By blocking approval of the Agreement, the leadership in Congress is hurting America’s trust and credibility not only with Colombia, but with our trading partners around the world. Worse yet, this stalling is destroying economic opportunities for the Colombian people. The only honorable course is to approve the Agreement as soon as possible.

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.