Last week, in Merída, Mexico, the leaders of Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia met to affirm their shared commitment to economic integration, growth, and competitiveness. You may not have heard of the summit. In fact, a Google search of recent U.S. news articles covering the meeting of the “Pacific Alliance” turns up only nine results. It seems that while the United States’ key partners in Latin America were meeting to discuss critical economic and trade issues, America failed to pay much attention. America’s disregard, however, makes little sense. With a …
The armed forces of Colombia have scored a major battlefield victory. They finally hunted down, confronted, and killed the leader of the narco-terrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Guillermo Leon Saenz, widely known by his alias Alfonso Cano. A guerrilla for decades, Cano assumed the top leadership of the FARC following the natural death of founder Manuel Marulanda (2008) and the elimination of senior figures Raul Reyes (2008) and Jorge Briceno (aka Mono Jojoy, 2010). Seen by some as a modern-day version of the “good revolutionary,” Cano—a life-long advocate …
Free trade agreements (FTAs) have economically benefited nations the world over since their inception. Poverty rates in countries with low trade barriers are significantly lower, and data in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom demonstrate that free trade also leads to higher incomes, more jobs, and greater equality. That’s why it’s vitally important to quickly enact the three pending U.S. trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. These FTAs have been sitting on the President’s desk since 2007 for no good reason. President Obama has finally made them …
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) visited Heritage earlier this week for The Bloggers Briefing and stuck around to chat in our Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio. On this week’s Scribecast, we cover tax reform, Brady’s MAP ACT, free-trade agreements and what Texas can teach the rest of America. Listen to our interview with Rep. Kevin Brady on Scribecast Brady is the vice chairman and top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee and serves as chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade. He was the point man for the White …
The efforts of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp (R–MI) to implement long-overdue trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea may soon pay off, providing a much-needed boost to the stagnant U.S. economy. Camp has rebuffed demands from the Obama Administration and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus that the U.S.–South Korea Free Trade Agreement include an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. It is not insignificant that Camp is willing to move the trade agreements forward independently from a TAA program that he supports. Offering to …
June 10 marked an important step forward in Colombia’s efforts to build enduring democratic security and pursue justice: Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, signed the Victims’ and Land Restitution Law. In the past, violence perpetrated primarily by paramilitary groups and guerrillas displaced 4 million Colombians, forcing them off as much as 16 million acres of land. The Victims’ Law has the potential to provide aid to those who have lost relatives or a significant amount of land as a result of violence in the past. The reparations will vary depending …
The record will show that the May 9 extradition by Colombia of Walid Makled Garcia to Venezuela constitutes a major lost opportunity for the Obama Administration to interrogate and prosecute a Venezuelan drug kingpin with close ties to high-level Venezuelan officials and to expose the depth of narco-corruption within the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela. Makled’s extradition follows the decision by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Colombian courts to honor the Venezuelan request for extradition over a similar request made by the U.S. In exchange for Makled, the …
With Mother’s Day around the corner, you better look out. It’s going to cost more than usual to send your mom a bouquet of flowers this year. Earlier this year, Congress allowed the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) to expire. As a result: U.S. flower importers face higher prices. Taxes on flowers imported from Colombia, which provides 70 percent of all cut flowers sold in the United States, are now at the highest rate in 18 years. There are fewer U.S. jobs in industries that rely on …
This time about three years ago, a California Democrat exercised legislative power to do something unprecedented in America’s international trade policymaking. Effectively ending more than five decades of bipartisan consensus on trade policy, on April 10, 2008, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her like-minded colleagues unilaterally and irresponsibly amended House rules to circumvent the 90-day timetable for taking up the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that President Bush had submitted to Congress—thereby dooming it.
Food prices are on the rise across the globe, fueling much of the political unrest that continues to rage in parts of the Middle East. Unexpectedly severe weather and soaring demand have pushed food prices to “dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick earlier this month. “Global food prices are approaching an all-time high,” agreed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her testimony before the Senate last week. If food shortages caused by the rise in prices continue, Latin America could see …
