[Ip-health] USTR: "Time is now" on Colombia FTA

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
USTR Schwab: "Time is now" on Colombia trade pact

WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab
told Congress on Thursday "the time is now" to approve a free trade
agreement with Colombia, signaling a fight with lawmakers seeking
stronger rights for workers.

Schwab=92s comments came days after Colombia set off a major diplomatic
crisis in the Andes when its troops crossed into Ecuador to kill
Marxist guerrillas, prompting Venezuela and Ecuador to move their
troops to their borders with Colombia.

U.S. President George W. Bush has supported Colombia, which gets
billions of dollars in military aid from Washington to fight rebels
and drug cartels.

"This administration will not yield in our efforts to persuade
Congress to do the the right thing =97 and approving the Colombia FTA is
most assuredly the right thing," Schwab said in testimony prepared for
the Senate Finance Committee.

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have insisted that
Colombia make more progress in reducing murders of trade unionists and
putting their killers in jail before Congress votes on the free trade
deal.

Schwab said that stance ignores the progress Colombia has already made
and threatens relations with a strong U.S. ally in a volatile region.

"The time is now" to approve the pact, Schwab told the panel. "By
delaying its consideration, or voting it down, we accomplish nothing.
Or worse."

The Colombia agreement is protected by trade promotion authority,
which requires Congress to approve or reject trade agreements within
90 days without making changes.

The White House has hoped to persuade Democratic leaders to
voluntarily schedule a vote, without forcing them to do that under
trade promotion authority. (Reporting by Doug Palmer, editing by Vicki
Allen)

Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney at Knowledge Ecology International
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18
Email: judit.rius@keionline.org