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Canada – Colombia Free Trade Agreement Signed!

by tdaxp ~ June 7th, 2008

Congratulations to Canada and Colombia for signing a free trade agreement. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have prevented our country from having free trade agreements with Colombia and Korea, and previously (and unsuccessfully) fought the DR-CAFTA trade agreement with central America, and NAFTA with Mexico.

Power Line: Canada, Colombia Conclude Free Trade Agreement
The Democrats have blocked consideration of the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia, a key ally in Latin America. This is perverse, since nearly all of Colombia’s goods already enter the U.S. tariff-free, while the agreement would open Colombia’s market to American companies. Perverse, but consistent with Barack Obama’s policy of coddling our enemies while shafting our friends.

Now, Canada has announced that it has completed a trade agreement with Colombia. The agreement will be a boon to Canada’s economy

I suspect that John McCain, who supports free trade, is also happy at this news.

I suspect that Barack Obama, who is a well known critic of free trade, will be silent.

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2 Responses to Canada – Colombia Free Trade Agreement Signed!

  1. Conrad
    June 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    We have to have a more open mind to free trade agreements and look for friends in our neighboring nations. Especially during these times were we need more Latin America support for democracy, capitalism and open trade.
    I wrote a summary in my blog on a recent speech by Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico and some of his points on open trade.
    http://discretetalk.typepad.com/manufacturing/2008/06/i-was-privileged–last-week-to-hear-vicente-fox-former-president-of-mexico-talking-about-the–importance-of-open-markets-and-trade-agreements-like-nafta-in-todays–complex-global-trading-economies-it-was-the-highlight-of-amr-researc.html

  2. Dan tdaxp
    June 7th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    Excellent post, Conrad! This is my favorite snippet:

    Not everything that shines is gold. The race to China might be overrated. A big advantage of doing business in Mexico for US companies is the benefit to logistics from the proximity. As an example, in the maquinadoras industry we can turn around raw materials into final product and have it back in the US in one day.

    Mexico also represents a huge local market for the United States. Mexico still has 33% poverty; we need to continue growing the middle class. But the 77% that consume represent a big buying market. Imports from the US to Mexico are bigger than for the rest of Latin America together. Mexico as a market is bigger than several European nations together. Around 70-75% of imports into Mexico are from the US.

    Q: Your book, “Revolution of Hope”, talks about a “Super NAFTA” can you elaborate?
    A: We must study and learn from models like the Europe Union. We are learning in Latin America and making some progress. For example, it is not necessary to have a passport to move between Guatemala and El Salvador. We should pay attention and learn from what is working over there.

    Great work!

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