Posted on 09/30/2009 5:45:16 PM PDT by Kaslin
Trade: Colombia got another brushoff Tuesday, when Commerce Secretary Gary Locke pronounced its free trade pact dead for the year because Washington is too busy with health care. Why doesn't Cuba ever hear that?
Speaking at the sidelines of a conference in Chile, Locke told Dow Jones: "It's pretty doubtful that the pact will be ratified this year, although the Obama administration is pushing forward with Colombia, Korea and Panama."
Yeah, sure. Pushing and pushing, it's all we've heard about from this crew. But the only visible moves on trade have a string of protectionist measures to make Big Labor happy.
On Wednesday, the United Steelworkers Union, fresh from getting the White House to hike tariffs on Chinese tires, is now demanding tariffs on paper. Unions are behind Colombia's holdup.
For both the U.S. and Colombia, a free-trade treaty would be a boon. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates it would create 384,000 American jobs at a time when 26 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed.
But the White House claims health care is too time-consuming. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Everett Eissenstat, speaking in Miami Tuesday, also was discouraging, saying Colombia still has more preconditions to fulfill.
By contrast, Cuba has yet to hear about demands that health care is placing on the Democratic agenda. It's gotten speedy service.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Maybe it was because the President of Colombia did an interview with Sara Palin?
“Life is short. Serve Castro first.”
Yep, health care is so time consuming that -11bama barely has time to fly to Copenhagen.
Note to White House: ONE TERM -- we are not fools.
No, the Dems have always hated Colombia, because it has successfully fought back against FARC (with help from the US under Reagan and the Bushes) and in their minds it is evil because anything that opposes Marxism is evil.
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