Cornyn Comments on Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The more that I look into the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the more I realize how important it is to agriculture -- and not only agriculture, but other industries as well. A large portion of our trade with Colombia is currently agricultural products. As the news release points out, this agreement is actually better for the U.S. in many ways than most trade agreements that come before Congress. Currently there are tariff barriers to many U.S. products going into Columbia which would be removed under this bill. On the other hand, there currently are no tariffs on the primary products that Columbia ships to the U.S. If Nancy Pelosi wasn't playing political power games with this agreement rather than allowing the representatives of the American people to vote on it, we would all soon benefit from its likely passage. Instead, we are caught once again in the power struggle between those who would wield their power in the interest of their own personal gain or the gain of very narrow interest groups rather than in the interest of the majority of the people. I applaud Senator Cornyn for standing up and expressing his views on this important economic issue for the American people.

Cornyn Urges Congress To Pass U.S. - Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Says accord will boost Texas jobs, America’s security

Monday, April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the President’s Export Council, on Monday urged Democrat House Leader Nancy Pelosi to reconsider her obstruction of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which would boost Texas job opportunities and bolster America’s national security.

Sen. Cornyn said Texas sends $2.3 billion in goods to Colombia, but America currently faces unilateral tariffs on those products. The accord levels the playing field and creates jobs and opportunity here in the United States, he added. “Last year, Texas led the nation in exports to Colombia… This agreement will remove those tariffs and allow U.S. manufacturers to sell even more goods to this large and growing market. And when...(complete news release here).

Columbian Agriculture

This is an interesting article on biofuels and agriculture in Colombia.

U.S. can learn from growth of biofuels in Latin America

Michael Rosen • Published 12/31/07

This last column of the year finds me in my bi-annual trek to Colombia, country where I first came to during 1972 to teach English as part of a college work/study program, followed by two years later, 1974, my first post-college job as a sales rep for Pfizer in Bogota.Colombia is, quite simply, an amazing country, which I have written about in past articles. With a population today of about 44.4 million people, ties for the 3rd highest population in Latin America after Brazil with 184 million, Mexico with 109 million, surpassing Argentina's 40 million people. Colombia, by the way, is just slightly less than twice the size of Texas (and twice the size of France), and can be reached by plane from Miami in 2-½ hours.

When you think of Colombia, what comes...(complete article here).