Gabriel Silva Luján says if a long stalled trade agreement doesn’t win congressional passage this fall, it will probably be the end of the road.
Gabriel Silva Luján, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, said wednesday that he thinks the tide may have turned on the long delayed free trade pact with Colombia, and he’s optimistic Congress will pass it when it returns to Washington in September.
But he added: “If we don’t get this done this fall, it’s probably the end of it.’’
The Obama administration had hoped to win passage of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panamá and South Korea before the august congressional recess but the fight over the debt ceiling and partisan squabbling intervened.
“The debt ceiling debate was damaging for Washington’s credibility as a whole,’’ Silva said.
But now, he said, “people are eager to come back to Washington and solve problems.’’
And among those problems is creating jobs and putting Americans back to work. “Free trade means jobs,’’ said Silva.
“I feel this will be a critical piece in President Obama’s job creation strategy that will be issued after Labor Day.’’
Advocates of the free trade agreement say it potentially could create 6,400 jobs in Florida.
The pact would remove tariffs on about 80 percent of U.S. exports to Colombia immediately and phase out those on others over time.
Tariffs would also be removed on Colombia imports.
Not only will the FTA create jobs in both countries, Silva said, but it will also protect existing jobs in the United States.
Trade relationships with other countries have begun to displace the United States, he said.
A Colombia free trade agreement with Canada went into effect Aug. 15, and Colombia also has a free trade pact with the Mercosur bloc.
“Colombia has a very entrepreneurial economy, so our businessmen will look for opportunities elsewhere’’ if the FTA with the United States isn’t ratified, Silva said.
Two weeks ago, Grupo Nutresa, the largest food manufacturer in Colombia and the importer of 50 percent of the wheat consumed in Colombia, announced it would be buying wheat from Canada, he said.
Traditionally Colombia has imported 90 to 95 percent of its wheat and most of it comes from the United States.
Other nations also are eroding U.S. market share in Colombia, he said. In 1.993, for example, China was Colombia’s 22nd most important trading partner.
Now, it has zoomed to the No. 2 position.
“If we don’t have the FTA between Colombia and the United States, the loser will be the United States,’’ said Silva.
U.S. critics of the trade pact, including the nation’s largest unions, have said the agreement shouldn’t be passed until Colombia does more to protect its labor unionists against violence and to defend their rights.
“Violence is still a problem in Colombia,’’ Silva acknowledged. But he said his country has made a lot of progress in controlling it in the past decade.
Opponents of the FTA, Silva said, “want to keep Colombia hostage to our past.’’
This summer, Silva has been crisscrossing the country talking with business groups and companies to garner support for the trade pact.
He’ll be in South Florida through the weekend and plans to visit North Carolina on Monday.
He’s already been to New Mexico and Northern Virginia and has meetings scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“There is a need to explain directly to the American people at the local level what an FTA between Colombia and the U.S. means for them,’’ said Silva.
“There are many misconceptions.’’
There are few states where trade with Colombia is as important as Florida. Two-way trade with Colombia totaled $7.6 billion in 2010 and the lion’s share of exports and imports were handled by South Florida airports and seaports.
South Florida is the nation’s import center for Colombian flowers and Colombia was the region’s second largest trading partner last year.
There are 5,500 Florida companies exporting to Colombia “most are small shops’’ and they stand to lose the most if the free trade pact isn’t approved, Silva said.
He said a Florida radio equipment manufacturer that he spoke to this week, for example, must pay a 15 percent tariff to get products into Colombia, boosting its cost relative to a Canadian manufacturer that can now export equipment to Colombia without paying tariffs.
Gabriel Silva Luján, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, said wednesday that he thinks the tide may have turned on the long delayed free trade pact with Colombia, and he’s optimistic Congress will pass it when it returns to Washington in September.
But he added: “If we don’t get this done this fall, it’s probably the end of it.’’
The Obama administration had hoped to win passage of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panamá and South Korea before the august congressional recess but the fight over the debt ceiling and partisan squabbling intervened.
“The debt ceiling debate was damaging for Washington’s credibility as a whole,’’ Silva said.
But now, he said, “people are eager to come back to Washington and solve problems.’’
And among those problems is creating jobs and putting Americans back to work. “Free trade means jobs,’’ said Silva.
“I feel this will be a critical piece in President Obama’s job creation strategy that will be issued after Labor Day.’’
Advocates of the free trade agreement say it potentially could create 6,400 jobs in Florida.
The pact would remove tariffs on about 80 percent of U.S. exports to Colombia immediately and phase out those on others over time.
Tariffs would also be removed on Colombia imports.
Not only will the FTA create jobs in both countries, Silva said, but it will also protect existing jobs in the United States.
Trade relationships with other countries have begun to displace the United States, he said.
A Colombia free trade agreement with Canada went into effect Aug. 15, and Colombia also has a free trade pact with the Mercosur bloc.
“Colombia has a very entrepreneurial economy, so our businessmen will look for opportunities elsewhere’’ if the FTA with the United States isn’t ratified, Silva said.
Two weeks ago, Grupo Nutresa, the largest food manufacturer in Colombia and the importer of 50 percent of the wheat consumed in Colombia, announced it would be buying wheat from Canada, he said.
Traditionally Colombia has imported 90 to 95 percent of its wheat and most of it comes from the United States.
Other nations also are eroding U.S. market share in Colombia, he said. In 1.993, for example, China was Colombia’s 22nd most important trading partner.
Now, it has zoomed to the No. 2 position.
“If we don’t have the FTA between Colombia and the United States, the loser will be the United States,’’ said Silva.
U.S. critics of the trade pact, including the nation’s largest unions, have said the agreement shouldn’t be passed until Colombia does more to protect its labor unionists against violence and to defend their rights.
“Violence is still a problem in Colombia,’’ Silva acknowledged. But he said his country has made a lot of progress in controlling it in the past decade.
Opponents of the FTA, Silva said, “want to keep Colombia hostage to our past.’’
This summer, Silva has been crisscrossing the country talking with business groups and companies to garner support for the trade pact.
He’ll be in South Florida through the weekend and plans to visit North Carolina on Monday.
He’s already been to New Mexico and Northern Virginia and has meetings scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“There is a need to explain directly to the American people at the local level what an FTA between Colombia and the U.S. means for them,’’ said Silva.
“There are many misconceptions.’’
There are few states where trade with Colombia is as important as Florida. Two-way trade with Colombia totaled $7.6 billion in 2010 and the lion’s share of exports and imports were handled by South Florida airports and seaports.
South Florida is the nation’s import center for Colombian flowers and Colombia was the region’s second largest trading partner last year.
There are 5,500 Florida companies exporting to Colombia “most are small shops’’ and they stand to lose the most if the free trade pact isn’t approved, Silva said.
He said a Florida radio equipment manufacturer that he spoke to this week, for example, must pay a 15 percent tariff to get products into Colombia, boosting its cost relative to a Canadian manufacturer that can now export equipment to Colombia without paying tariffs.
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