IT'S NOT THE REALITY THEY CARE ABOUT...:

The Colombian Imperative (DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH, April 9, 2008, NY Sun)

Mrs. Clinton wanted Mr. Penn gone because the union vote is crucial in Pennsylvania's upcoming primary. The executive director of the union coalition Change to Win, Greg Tarpinian, requested that Mr. Penn be fired according to the letter he sent on behalf of Change to Win on April 5. In that letter, he wrote, "Mr. Penn was not simply meeting with the government of Colombia, he was advising them on how to pass an anti-worker trade agreement."

The popular perception is that a trade agreement with Colombia would result in Colombian goods coming into the country, displacing American products and workers. Wrong. Most Colombian products, $9.2 billion in 2007, already pay no tariffs to enter America under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, enacted in 1991 and renewed again this year with Mrs. Clinton's support. Yet American products, valued at $8.6 billion in 2007, pay substantial tariffs to enter Colombia. That's not fair trade. American exporters and workers would be the main beneficiaries of the trade agreement, which would put U.S. and Colombian exports on a level playing field.

The agreement, signed in November 2006 and amended in June 2007, would open up duty-free markets between America and Colombia. Colombia wants the treaty to give more stability to its trade with the U.S. and gain more investment from American firms.

...but the imagery of free trade with an anti-Communist regime.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 9, 2008 8:15 AM