The US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement was signed on November 22, 2006. Colombia’s congress approved the agreement in 2007 and it was declared to be in compliance with Colombia’s constitution in July 2008. The FTA is pending US Congress approval. The US Congress can put the treaty on an up or down vote and cannot change the letter of the treaty, since it was signed under US Trade Promotion Authority (through the so-called fast-track provision).
The treaty covers similar areas and is structured around the same platform as other US FTAs, covering customs, trade facilitation, Technical Barriers as Trade, government procurement, telecommunications, electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, as well as provisions on labor and environment. The latter two are the main areas of controversies surrounding the treaty.
While the proponents of the treaty argue that inaction is costing the US manufacturers millions of dollars in trade, agricultural markets and job creation, the opponents of the treaty claim that US passing the treaty would indirectly support and give legitimacy to the violence in Colombia committed against union workers, lead to environmental degradation, and to loss of control of land to Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, among other problems. The proponents of the treaty, in turn, call these assertions outdated and claim that, alongside economic benefits for both parties, a US-Colombia FTA would allow for consolidation of an ally in the region and contribute towards a more secure environment in the region.
Question: Should the US Congress pass the US-Colombia FTA, or should it be renegotiated?