[House Document 110-103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




110th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 110-103

 
          THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT


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                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                     THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

   CONSISTENT WITH THE TRADE ACT OF 2002, LEGISLATION AND SUPPORTING 
   DOCUMENTS TO IMPLEMENT THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION 
                               AGREEMENT

                             Volume 1 of 2




    April 8, 2008.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
         Committee on Ways and Means and ordered to be printed
          THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT

                                     

110th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 110-
103

          THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT


                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                     THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

   CONSISTENT WITH THE TRADE ACT OF 2002, LEGISLATION AND SUPPORTING 
   DOCUMENTS TO IMPLEMENT THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION 
                               AGREEMENT

                             Volume 1 of 2




    April 8, 2008.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
         Committee on Ways and Means and ordered to be printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    I am pleased to transmit legislation and supporting 
documents to implement the United States-Colombia Trade 
Promotion Agreement (the ``Agreement''). The Agreement 
represents an historic development in our relations with 
Colombia, which has shown its commitment to advancing 
democracy, protecting human rights, and promoting economic 
opportunity. Colombia's importance as a steadfast strategic 
partner of the United States was recognized by President 
Clinton's support for an appropriation in 2000 to provide 
funding for Plan Colombia, and my Administration has continued 
to stand with Colombia as it confronts violence, terror, and 
drug traffickers.
    This Agreement will increase opportunity for the people of 
Colombia through sustained economic growth and is therefore 
vital to ensuring that Colombia continues on its trajectory of 
positive change. Under the leadership of President Alvaro 
Uribe, Colombia has made a remarkable turnaround since 1999 
when it was on the verge of being a failed state. This progress 
is in part explained by Colombia's success in demobilizing tens 
of thousands of paramilitary fighters. The Colombian government 
reports that since 2002, kidnappings, terrorist attacks, and 
murders are all down substantially, as is violence against 
union members.
    The Government of Colombia, with the assistance of the 
United States, is continuing its efforts to further reduce the 
level of violence in Colombia and to ensure that those 
responsible for violence are quickly brought to justice. To 
speed prosecutions of those responsible for violent crimes, the 
Prosecutor General's Office plans to hire this year 72 new 
prosecutors and more than 110 investigators into the Human 
Rights Unit. These additions are part of the increase of more 
than 2,100 staff that will be added to the Prosecutor General's 
Office in 2008 and 2009. To support these additional personnel 
and their activities, Colombia has steadily increased the 
budget for the Prosecutor General's Office, including by more 
than $40 million this year, bringing the total outlay for that 
office to nearly $600 million.
    In negotiating this Agreement, my Administration was guided 
by the objectives set out by the Congress in the Trade Act of 
2002. My Administration has complied fully with the letter and 
spirit of Trade Promotion Authority--from preparation for the 
negotiations, to consultations with the Congress throughout the 
talks, to the content of the Agreement itself. In addition, my 
Administration has conducted several hundred further 
consultations, led congressional trips to Colombia, and last 
year renegotiated key labor, environmental, investment, and 
intellectual property rights provisions in the Agreement at the 
behest of the Congress. By providing for the effective 
enforcement of labor and environmental laws, combined with 
strong remedies for noncompliance, the Agreement will 
contribute to improved worker rights and higher levels of 
environmental protection in Colombia. The result is an 
Agreement that all of us can be proud of and that will create 
significant new opportunities for American workers, farmers, 
ranchers, businesses, and consumers by opening the Colombian 
market and eliminating barriers to U.S. goods, services, and 
investment.
    Under the Agreement, tariffs on over 80 percent of U.S. 
industrial and consumer goods exported to Colombia will be 
eliminated immediately, with tariffs on the remaining goods 
eliminated within 10 years. The Agreement will allow 52 percent 
of U.S. agricultural exports, by value, to enter Colombia duty-
free immediately, with the remaining agricultural tariffs 
phased out over time. This will help to level the playing 
field, as 91 percent of U.S. imports from Colombia already 
enjoy duty-free access to our market under U.S. trade 
preference programs.
    My Administration looks forward to continuing to work with 
the Congress on a bipartisan path forward to secure approval of 
this legislation that builds on the positive spirit of the May 
10, 2007, agreement on trade between the Administration and the 
House and Senate leadership, and the strong bipartisan support 
demonstrated by both Houses of Congress in overwhelmingly 
approving the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement last 
year. The United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement 
represents an historic step forward in U.S. relations with a 
key friend and ally in Latin America. Congressional approval of 
legislation to implement the Agreement is in our national 
interest, and I urge the Congress to act favorably on this 
legislation as quickly as possible.

                                                    George W. Bush.
    The White House, April 7, 2008.
    
    
      
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        TAB 1: UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT

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Tab 2: Draft of an Implementing Bill Described in Section 2103(b)(3) of 
                                the Act

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               Tab 3: Statement of Administrative Action

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  TAB 4: STATEMENT OF HOW THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION 
    AGREEMENT MAKES PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING U.S. PURPOSES, POLICIES, 
                       OBJECTIVES, AND PRIORITIES

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  TAB 5: STATEMENT OF WHY THE UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION 
             AGREEMENT IS IN THE INTERESTS OF U.S. COMMERCE

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                    Tab 6: Summary of the Agreement

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                    Tab 7: Letters of Correspondence

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