Date: October 1, 2010 Creator: Villarreal, M. Angeles
Description: The proposed U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion
Agreement, also called the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
(CFTA), is a bilateral free trade agreement between the United
States and Colombia which, if ratified, would eliminate tariffs
and other barriers in goods and services between the two
countries. The CFTA negotiations grew out of a regional effort
in 2004 to produce a U.S.-Andean free trade agreement (FTA)
between the United States and the Andean countries of Colombia,
Peru, and Ecuador. In his January 2010 State of the Union
address, President Barack Obama called for a new National Export
Initiative (NEI) to boost U.S. exports and create jobs. One
component of the NEI calls for opening new markets for U.S.
exports by resolving outstanding issues with Colombia, Korea,
and Panama with the objective of moving forward with the pending
FTAs at the appropriate time. There is currently no indication
that the 111th Congress will consider implementi