“Now is not the time to relinquish our historic leadership on trade in the hemisphere—it’s the time to renew it," said keynote speaker Senator John McCain before a panel on trade issues affecting the Americas.

AS/COA takes a look at the 112th Congress' activity related to pending free-trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, as well as extension of the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act.

"Colombia and Panama are not waiting on us," said Senator John McCain at the Americas Quarterly's Winter 2011 launch in Washington. "This is the new reality in our hemisphere today that too many Americans don’t understand: Our neighbors are not dependent on us."

Six months since he took office, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos’ high approval rating and backing in Congress could help usher through a law that would provide reparations to victims of his country’s conflict.

"[T]he facts in this case are pretty straightforward: In markets opened up by previous free trade agreements, the overwhelming majority of states have seen exports grow—in some cases exponentially," writes AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini in The Houston Chronicle.

In the 2011 State of the Union, President Barack Obama signaled his support for pending trade deals with Colombia and Panama. But it remains to be seen how hard he will push for their passage. Will the two Latin American countries look elsewhere for trade partners?

The merger of the Colombian, Chilean, and Peruvian stock exchanges is a milestone for hemisphere finance—and a sign of renewed economic confidence.