‘At a time when the U.S. economy is struggling, we should be doing all we can to help U.S. exporters sell their goods abroad. Instead, House Democrats are burdening our exporters with high tariffs’



Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the House Democrat leadership’s decision to not allow a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement:



“Last month, Democrat Leaders in the House made a terrible decision. They opted to kill a free trade agreement that had already been reached between the U.S. and Colombia, one of our closest allies in Latin America and a nation that’s made great strides in Democratic reform.



“At the heart of the deal was an agreement that U.S. manufacturers and farmers would no longer have to pay tariffs on U.S. goods that are sold in Colombia. This would have leveled the playing field, since most Colombian goods are sold in the U.S. duty free.



“At a time of economic uncertainty at home, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement should have been an obvious, bipartisan effort to bolster the U.S. manufacturing and agriculture sectors and to expand overseas markets for U.S. goods.



“Unfortunately, the House leaders decided that the support of union leaders was, in this case, more important than our relations with a close ally or the state of the U.S. economy. That decision has already had serious and far-reaching consequences. And that’s not just the Republican view.



“Virtually every major paper in the country was swift in condemning House Democrats for changing the rules and blocking a vote on this trade agreement. They recognized that the decision was bad for our relations with Colombia, bad as a matter of national security, and bad for the U.S. economy.



“Here are just a few of the headlines from newspapers across the country.



‘Drop Dead, Colombia,’ Washington Post



‘Free Trade Deal is a Winner,’ The Charleston Post and Courier



‘Approve Pact with Colombia,’ Los Angeles Times



‘A Trade Deal That All of the Americas Need,’ Rocky Mountain News



‘Our View On Free Trade: Pass the Colombia Pact,’ USA Today



‘Pelosi’s Bad Faith,’ Wall Street Journal



‘Time for the Colombian Trade Pact,’ The New York Times



‘Historical Failure on Colombia Trade Pact,’ Denver Post



‘Lose-Lose; House Rejection of Trade Agreement is Bad for U.S. Workers and Colombia,’ The Houston Chronicle



‘Caving on Colombia,’ Chicago Tribune



“And, in my own hometown paper, the Louisville Courier Journal, an editorial titled ‘Free Trade’s Benefits.’



“Here’s how the Courier Journal put it: ‘Far from the Washington Beltway, out here in Kentucky, the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) would have real consequences in real people’s lives – most of them good, in our view.’



“I could go on. In the days after the House scuttled the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative counted more than 75 editorials opposing the decision. It’s still waiting for an editorial in support.



“A congressional resolution in support of Independence Day would probably draw more criticism than the Colombia Free Trade Agreement has from U.S. newspapers. And the reason is clear. The decision to block a vote has already had serious and far-reaching consequences. As the San Diego Union Tribune put it in yet another editorial critical of the move, “Bashing Has a Price.”



“With respect to tariffs, that price is quantifiable. According to an estimate by the Department of Commerce, U.S. goods entering Colombia have been weighted down with more than $1 billion in tariffs since the Colombia Free Trade Agreement was signed. One billion dollars. This is a heavy burden to place on U.S. workers and the businesses they work for.



“We hear a lot from the other side about the need for fair trade. Is it fair that U.S. goods have been saddled with more than $1 billion in tariffs just in the last year and a half alone while more than 90 percent of all Colombian-made goods are sold here without any tariffs at all? This, apparently, is what House Democrats in Congress regard as fair trade.



“The trade imbalance between the U.S. and Colombia is a matter of enormous significance for the many states that rely on exports — states like Kentucky, which exported about $67 million worth of goods to Colombia last year. Had the FTA been brought up and passed, that figure would have been all but certain to increase this year.



“The beef industry is a good example of how the trade imbalance hurts the U.S. Kentucky is the largest beef cattle producing state east of the Mississippi. But at the moment, prime and choice cuts of Kentucky beef face 80 percent duties once they reach Colombian ports. Obviously, an 80 percent markup on beef makes it hard for cattle farmers to compete.



“The House’s failure to take up the Colombia FTA puts states like Kentucky at a serious competitive disadvantage with Colombia — despite the fact that Colombia itself wants to level the playing field. It’s Democrats in the House, not Colombia, that insists on keeping high tariffs on U.S. goods in place.



“At a time when the U.S. economy is struggling, we should be doing all we can to help U.S. exporters sell their goods abroad. Instead, House Democrats are burdening our exporters with high tariffs. In these economic times, we should be expanding access to overseas markets for American-made products and American-grown goods, not standing in the way.



“This is a consensus view, not a Republican view. The Senate is ready to vote in favor of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement on a broad bipartisan basis. For the good of the economy, we should be allowed to take that vote. The House should take up the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and pass it, and they should do it without any further delay.”



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