"My hope is today’s events will be the beginning of a renewed effort from the United States to engage in trade," says COA's Eric Farnsworth.
The U.S. House and Senate passage of bilateral free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama on October 12 clears the way for long-delayed implementation.
The White House submitted trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea on Monday. Key legislators indicated the long-pending deals could win approval before Congress breaks for recess later this month.
Both the administration and congressional Republicans must end the partisan wrangling over the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to pass pending U.S. trade pacts, write members of COA's Trade Advisory Group in The Washington Post.
After approving NAFTA in 1994, the United States continued to restrict Mexican truckers’ ability to cross the border. A bilateral agreement signed July 6 seeks to put the dispute to rest.
FTAs with Peru and China are part of a broader trade strategy.
"Additional efforts should be undertaken to expand hemispheric trade, even under current political conditions," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth for The Huffington Post.
