TPT May 2008

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From the AmericaS
85 May 2008 ›
Foreign policy
The Colombia pact: President Bush confuses
an already raucous contest over his successor
by forcing a free-trade vote
“In most parts of the country, free trade is a dirty word,” Stuart
Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst, told the Houston
Chronicle (‘Free-trade plan with Colombia likely to cause stir,’
6 April).
Bennett Roth, of the Chronicle’s Washington Bureau, noted that exit
polls taken during the 4 March primaries in Texas and Ohio would
seem to confirm this view. He wrote, “Some 81 per cent of Ohio
voters who participated in the exit polls said NAFTA took away US
jobs. Even in Texas, which has been more friendly to free trade,
59 per cent said NAFTA had cost American jobs.”
As the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and
Canada provides a focus for resentment over blue-collar job losses,
particularly in the Rust Belt states of the Midwest, the primaries are
compelling the candidates to succeed President George W Bush to
stake out their positions on free trade. Briefly put, the presumptive
Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, is for it; the leading
contenders for the Democratic nomination, Sens Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama, are against.
Advisers to Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama have said both candidates
oppose not only the trade deals pending with South Korea and
Panama, but also a highly politically charged bill for a pact with
Colombia. This would dismantle trade barriers between the US and
the nation whose leader is Washington’s staunchest ally – some
might say its only ally – in South America.
The battle lines were drawn more sharply on 7 April, when Mr Bush
signed to send the Colombia free-trade agreement to Congress.
This set a ‘fast track’ timetable that will force a Senate vote by
September, just weeks before Election Day on 4 November.
“A political fight is assured,” Mr Roth wrote, “The only question is,
how bruising will it become?”
Mr Bush is promoting the agreement in terms of prospective
economic and national security benefits to the United States. He
has also told selected audiences that its approval would support
President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia as a counterweight to President
Hugo Chávez, of Venezuela. Mr. Chávez is a vocal critic of
globalization and of US foreign policy, and an especially sharp thorn
in Mr Bush’s side.
The Houston Chronicle noted that business interests including
the Greater Houston Partnership are pressing for the agreement
that would eliminate Colombia’s high tariffs on US-made
products. Every year, goods worth nearly $3.4 billion are shipped
between the United States and Colombia through the Port of
Houston.
Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)