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US/Colombia FTA to go into effect May 15th

The United States and Colombia have picked a date next month to put their Free Trade Agreement into effect. On Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 more than 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products – including agricultural equipment – will become duty free. More than half of U.S. exports of agricultural commodities to Colombia will also become duty-free: including soybeans, wheat, barley, “high quality beef”, bacon and “almost all fruit and vegetable products” , according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

The US/Colombia FTA was authorized by Congress last October along with the Korea FTA that went into effect last month and the Panama FTA which is yet to be implemented.

By Tom Steever  – According to a report in Bloomberg News, in a conference call at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters that President Obama took steps to certify Colombia’s labor-protection efforts. Under the labor certification, Colombia is to establish a new labor ministry, give workers the right to organize, prosecute past cases of violence against unions and provide protections for them.

U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the trade deal will add as much as $1.1 billion to U.S. exports when it takes full effect.

U.S. commodity groups pushed hard for the free trade agreement, but Caterpillar and General Electric are among its biggest supporters.

The AFL-CIO labor federation remains opposed to the trade pact with Colombia.

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