| Level that Playing Field! | Why Support the Trade Promotion Agreement
with Colombia?
It Will Level the Playing Field!
It's simple, really--the trade agreement Colombia is about leveling the playing field for American workers, farmers, and companies that have lost ground against foreign competition in this market.
The United States unilaterally opened its market to Colombia through the Andean Trade Preference Act years ago.
TODAY:
- 90% of the imports from Colombia enter our market duty free.
- Exports of U.S. manufactured goods to Colombia face an average tariff of 11%.
- The temporary nature of the preferences programs provide incentives for U.S. investors to look for more stable locations to invest -- like Cambodia or China, where they use fewer U.S. materials such as cotton, yarn and fabric than our neighbor, Colombia.
WITH THE AGREEMENT:
- The trade agreement will remedy the unfairness of today’s U.S.-Colombia trade relationship and transform it into a mutually beneficial partnership.
- More than 80% of U.S. consumer and industrial products and most key U.S. farm exports will enter Colombia duty-free immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over time.
- Nearly 8,000 U.S. companies already export to Colombia, 84 percent of which are small and medium-sized firms.
The U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement makes a two-way street out of our relationship with Colombia and levels the playing field for U.S. workers, farmers, and companies.
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | Last year, Colombia's House of Representatives voted 84-3 and its Senate voted 54-16 to include provisions reached in the May 10 bipartisan trade deal in the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, underscoring broad support for the agreement in Colombia.
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''The first agreement that will come before you is with Colombia, a friend of America that is confronting violence and terror and fighting drug traffickers. If we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere.
So we must come together, pass this agreement, and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life.''
President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address
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