
Done right, trade bills are jobs bills. Nowhere is this truer for American workers than with the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA). Colombia is not only a strategic ally in an often-troubled region of the world, but it is also a large and growing market for the exports of U.S. farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs.
The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the Colombia FTA will increase U.S. exports by more than $1 billion a year. As the U.S. economy continues to recover, an aggressive trade agenda that includes the approval of the FTA and extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program to assist American workers adjust to the demands of globalization, will have a dramatic and positive impact on job-creation here at home.
Colombia is a country of 45 million people, about the same population as South Korea, with a large and growing number of middle-class consumers. It is the second-largest market in South America for U.S. farmers and the third-largest market for U.S. manufacturers.
But while Colombia has historically enjoyed duty-free access to the U.S. market, our goods are subject to significant tariffs in Colombia. American farmers face an average tariff of roughly 30 percent in Colombia, and U.S. manufacturers face an effective tariff of 14 percent. These tariffs have hit American workers hard during the greatest recession in a generation.
The FTA would eliminate these tariffs on U.S. goods. It would reduce the cost of high-quality U.S. agricultural exports, including wheat, beef, barley, peas, lentils, and seed potatoes from my home state of Montana. And it would reduce the cost of goods produced by U.S. manufacturers that send products to Colombia, nearly 90 percent of which are small and medium-sized businesses.
But as the United States has delayed approval of the FTA, signed by U.S. President George W. Bush and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe in 2006, American exporters have lost ground in the Colombian market. Meanwhile, China and other countries are surging ahead. Over the last two years, U.S. farmers have lost $1 billion in sales to Colombia. Argentina overtook the United States last year as the largest agricultural exporter to Colombia. Since 2002, China has tripled its share of the Colombian market and is now that country's second-largest trading partner. Each day we fail to act costs jobs and dollars in the American economy.
Many U.S. supporters of the FTA have touted the political and national security benefits of the agreement. The FTA will indeed fortify relations with one of our closest allies in the world in a critical region. These benefits are key, but we cannot overlook the economic gains from this agreement.
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