[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 14 (Monday, April 14, 2008)]
[Pages 498-500]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation To Implement 
the United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

April 7, 2008

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

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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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Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
April 8.