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.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the Oval Office this week to talk security, trade, energy, and hockey. Ottawa's discomfort with "Buy American" provisions also caused Harper to make a rare trip to Capitol Hill, where he met with U.S. congressional leaders.

"Now is the time to have an open and honest dialogue about the role of trade in the economy and the ways it influences economic growth, job creation, and wealth generation," writes AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal in an op-ed for Poder on the sustainable benefits liberalized trade has for the global economy.