14-03-2008 08:56

The Colombian Free Trade Agreement needs to be approved for all the reasons given here and more. Unfortunately, it comes before Congress in the midst of the election campaign, and therefore becomes just another opportunity for political soapbox tirades.  
The Sierra Club statement in opposition to the Colombia FTA, issued on March 12, typifies the opposition arguments. The statement says that over 60% of the flowers sold in the US already come from Colombia, and that the industry is “fraught with environmental and worker-rights violations.” They do not, however, provide any arguments as to how the rejection of the FTA will in any way improve the lot of Colombian workers or the Colombian environment. Nor do they mention that Sierra Club has also opposed NAFTA, CAFTA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Peru FTA, etc.

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