Membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership could reengage Washington at a time when Asia and Latin America are signing new trade pacts.

Council of the Americas supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement to expand trade and investment with Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. “TPP may well be the most promising opportunity for hemispheric trade expansion that includes the United States,” says the COA submission.

President Obama needs to summon the political courage to push through free trade.

Executive Vice President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives David Stewart-Patterson makes a case in The Hill Times for why the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement is important to the Canadian economy, Colombian citizens, and labor protection standards.

APEC celebrates 20 years as members convene in Singapore. On the sidelines, Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada, as well as APEC observer countries Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama are pursuing economic agreements with Asian countries.

Council of the Americas organized an October 29 bipartisan discussion on Capitol Hill concerning the role of trade in building stronger partnerships, economic and job recovery, and broad-based development in the Western Hemisphere.

AS/COA Honorary Chairman David Rockefeller urges the White house to resist protectionist demands that could further weaken the U.S. economy. "President Obama should recognize the critical need for a free flow of trade and finance across the world’s borders," he writes in The New York Times.