Small Steps on Colombia FTA but Date Still Uncertain

NATIONAL JOURNAL
 
TRADE
Small Steps on Colombia FTA but Date Still Uncertain

by Clifford Marks

Updated: May 11, 2011 | 2:50 p.m.
May 11, 2011 | 2:28 p.m.

The Obama administration and Congress moved a step closer toward completing the long-delayed Colombia Free Trade Agreement last week by beginning informal discussions on implementing language, but at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, a top administration trade official studiously avoided giving any date for submitting the agreement for ratification.

At the hearing -- the first of many that must be held before Congress can consider a final bill to ratify the pact -- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pressed Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro several times on whether the administration would hand the agreement to Congress by the August date that her boss, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, had earlier specified.

Sapiro repeatedly dodged, citing the ongoing but not yet fulfilled action plan on labor rights, as well as the administration’s desire to fulfill other aspects of its trade agenda, including the extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers adversely affected by trade.

The Obama administration announced an action plan last month that requires Colombia to meet a series of benchmarks on labor law, labor violence and prosecution of criminals. The plan includes a series of three deadlines, the second of which must be fulfilled by mid-June. U.S. labor officials have expressed concerns about labor conditions in Colombia, a country that has had a recent history of violence.

Administration officials have often said that they expect Colombia to meet these deadlines throughout the ratification process and that the pact could be officially submitted to Congress while Colombia works towards the final deadline. But many Democrats have said it is inappropriate to advance the deal before all of the benchmarks are met.

Referencing those benchmarks, Sapiro noted that there was “still important work for Colombia to do” but said she was “optimistic” the country’s government would meet the specified goals. She then pointed to other elements of President Obama’s trade agenda, such as TAA, that they considered essential to pass.

“There are discussions ongoing about the exact sequencing and scheduling to accomplish all of our trade agenda for this year,” she said. “It is hard to imagine approving trade agreements while at the same time we haven’t been able to approve trade adjustment assistance that benefits American workers.”

The Colombia pact is one of three pending trade deals on the White House agenda. Earlier this year, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notified Congressthat  it was ready to begin technical discussion on deals with South Korea and Panama. Together, the three deals are the largest market-opening effort since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into force in 1994. Each would significantly reduce tariffs on the majority of U.S. exports of goods and services.

Hatch pressed on whether the administration was conditioning its submission of the Colombia pact on extending TAA or on permanent normal trade relations with Russia, another of its goals. Sapiro stuck to her earlier message, avoiding a clear yes-or-no answer, much to the senator’s frustration.

“It’s not a question of preconditions. In my view, it’s a question of being able to decide together in consultation as to what the exact sequencing and scheduling will be,” she said. “We look forward to continuing those conversations and then I’ll be able to answer your question.”