09/12/08 Will We See Columbia Free Trade?

Will We See Columbian Free Trade? I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The Columbia Free Trade Agreement has been a hotly contested issue on Capitol Hill over the last year. This week Washington Congressman Doc Hastings met with Colombian Minister of Trade Luis Guillermo Plata and other representatives from Colombia to discuss the economic importance of passing the U.S.-Colombia trade agreement. HASTINGS: I met with a number of representatives from Columbia earlier this week and of course a year ago I visited Columbia. I am very much in support of that free trade agreement, but because again of an action on the House earlier the Congress is not obliged to take it up. I've had conversations with some of my Democrat colleagues on the floor this week and they believe as do I that we'll probably have a Lame Duck session sometime in November or maybe December in which case, in all likelihood, the Columbia Free Trade Agreement will pass. According to Hastings, immediately upon enactment of the agreement, tariffs would disappear on many Washington state products including apples, cherries, pears, beef, potatoes, raspberries, wheat, and dairy. HASTINGS: That very immediately benefits out tree fruit farmers, especially our agriculture industry by removing all barriers for trade in that country and I think that's very important but that will not happen I don't believe until and unless we have a Lame Duck session. Hastings says that the current administration has been working on to help include agriculture in the current trade agreements. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.