The U.S. Government will make changes in the free trade agreement with
Colombia before asking Congress to ratify it, the Government announced
in its annual Trade Policy Agenda.
The proposed changes consist of “benchmarks for progress”. The document doesn’t specify what constitutes as progress.
The Obama administration promises to “promptly, but responsibly address the issues” surrounding the free trade agreement with Colombia.
Obama and the members of his Democratic Party in U.S. Congress have refused to sign the deal made by former President George W. Bush and his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe, because of human rights violations in Colombia.
Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos and Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez were in Washington last week to lobby the ratification of the trade pact and continuation of Plan Colombia, a multi-billion plan to jointly fight drug trafficking and leftist insurgency in Colombia. Following that visit, President Uribe expressed he was confident relations with the Obama administration would improve.