Pushing Forward
Perhaps there is a glimmer of sanity in Washington. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the House Budget Committee Wednesday that it is time for Congress to “push forward” with the three stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Chairman Bernanke made the point that you have seen often on this blog, that the three FTAs can contribute materially to the U.S. economic recovery by encouraging exports and creating or protecting jobs for Americans. The U.S.-Korea FTA should mean 345,000 jobs, Panama is a key market in Central America, and Colombia is the top Latin American market for U.S. agricultural goods. That would seem to be a good thing.
The Obama Administration doesn’t appear to see it that way. They periodically say nice things about the FTAs, but never get around to asking the Congress to approve them. The longer this goes on, the more it reeks of resisiting agreements that were negotiated by the previous administration, no matter how much that resistance hurts American companies and workers. Strange behavior for an administration that claims to be pro-labor and says it wants a fast-track to economic recovery.
Uribe & Clinton: Excited About Trade?
Coincidentally, while Chairman Bernanke was testifying, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Bogota answering a question about the U.S.-Colombia FTA. Secretary Clinton and President Uribe avoided mentioning the FTA during their opening remarks, though Uribe pointedly referred to Colombia’s improving labor rights and the fact that the International Labor Organization has seen enough improvement to remove Colombia from the ILO list of sanctioned countries. That should make the labor union opposition to the FTA somewhat more comfortable.
Clinton took a question from Felipe Arias of RCN Television:
Madam Secretary, good afternoon…
I would like to ask you, you’ve made great efforts here by President Uribe in recent years to achieve the signing of the FTA with the United States. Can we expect more decisive support from the Obama Administration in order to get the signing of the FTA in the upcoming months? …
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, let me underscore President Obama’s and my commitment to the Free Trade Agreement. We are going to continue to work to obtain the votes in the Congress to be able to pass it. We think it is strongly in the interests of both Colombia and the United States. And I return to Washington very invigorated by the dialogue that we have had and the questions and answers that we have shared to work with your ambassador, who does an excellent job for you in Washington, and your trade minister and foreign minister and others, to begin a very intensive effort to try to obtain the votes to get the Free Trade Agreement finally ratified.
So, the Obama Administration continues to blame a purported lack of votes in the Congress, while many in Congress say they are waiting for Obama to ask them to move the FTAs forward. Stalemate.
