| Colombia Deserves a Vote!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:
- More than 90% of all imports from Colombia already enter the U.S. marketplace duty-free under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), which was recently renewed by large bipartisan majorities in Congress.
- By contrast, U.S. exports to Colombia face average tariffs of 14% for manufactured goods and more than 50% for key agricultural exports such as corn and wheat. In other words, Colombians enjoy nearly free access to our marketplace while our access to theirs remains limited.
- 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 U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will remedy the unfairness of today's U.S.-Colombia trade relationship and transform it into a mutually beneficial partnership by eliminating most tariffs immediately upon entry-into-force.
- 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.
- Over 10,000 U.S. companies already export to Colombia, 8,509 of which are small and medium-sized firms. This trade with Colombia is nearly $2.2 billion for U.S. small and medium-sized businesses.
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.
Colombia Deserves a Vote!
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | The presidents of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia agreed with European Union officials on May 17 to speed up talks for a free trade agreement, Bloomberg reports. ''We're basically in agreement to move toward an accord at the next round of talks in Brussels on June 12,'' said Peruvian President Alan Garcia. Separately, Canadian officials recently indicated they expect to complete a free trade agreement with Colombia by September. If the U.S. fails to approve its own trade accord with Colombia, European and Canadian workers and farmers will have a significant advantage over their U.S. counterparts in the booming Colombian market.
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''It is impossible for someone to go to Colombia and not be impressed with the strides they have made in very real ways.''
- Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee
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