Guest Blogger: Wally Herger (R-CA) on Maintaining U.S. Competitiveness

Rep. Wally Herger / October 30, 2009

Three years ago the U.S. finished negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia that would have given American businesses reciprocal access to the Colombian market that Colombian companies have been receiving for years. Two years later, in an unprecedented move, Speaker Pelosi denied the FTA an up or down vote in the House, stripping the agreement’s “fast track” procedural protections under the law. Despite calls for action, the Obama Administration has followed suit by failing to push the agreement forward. Now Canada has swooped in to lock in an agreement with Colombia that will give their farmers, in particular, the benefits that should have gone to American farmers. And the result: the loss of millions of dollars in U.S. agricultural exports to Colombia.

I wish this was the only example of how our inaction on trade is causing the U.S. to fall behind, but it gets worse. While the U.S. has been sitting on yet another free trade agreement with South Korea (which was anticipated to be the gateway agreement to the East Asia region), the EU has finalized negotiations on their own FTA with Korea. Again, the U.S. will not only lose opportunities to grow our economy and create jobs through increased exports of American made goods and services, but also will actually see a reduction in exports. (more…)