More on the Failure to Pass the FTAs

Thanks to its thriving mining industry, Colombia is the sixth-largest market in the world for Caterpillar, one of the many U.S. companies hoping that the long-delayed FTA with Colombia finally passes.

From a July 27 article in the Washington Diplomat:

"Slowly but surely, Americans have realized that delaying the FTA is destroying jobs in America," insisted Gabriel Silva, Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. Noting that Colombia must import 70 percent of its corn and 95 percent of its wheat due to limited domestic production, he pointed out that "in 2008, U.S. farmers were the largest providers of agricultural products to Colombia. The U.S. had 46 percent of the Colombian food import market. That's since fallen to 20 percent."

"We were not going to wait for the U.S., so we've signed free trade agreements with Mercosur, Chile and Mexico," he added, referring to the Mercosur trade bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. "We've renegotiated an agreement with Canada, and also one with the European Union. These countries compete head-to-head with American farmers, in particular Brazil and Argentina."

That is why Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, is so gung-ho about passing the U.S-Colombia FTA — now.

"Time is of the essence," he said. "It's important that Congress acts quickly to vote on the package by August recess. If not, we stand to lose this opening and it will come at a cost to America's farmers and ranchers. After more than four years, we cannot afford to miss this opportunity."

Doug Wolf, president of the National Pork Producers Council, agrees, saying it's imperative that the deal is approved before Congress adjourns for a month. "U.S. pork producers need new and expanded market access to remain competitive in the global marketplace," he said. "And the way to get that is through free trade agreements."

MP: Obviously, Congress adjourned in August without signing the FTAs.

So Congress and Obama talk all the time about increasing the number of U.S. jobs and lowering the unemployment rate, but their joint failure to pass the FTAs demonstrates that they really aren't serious about jobs.  Maybe maintaining the support of U.S. organized labor is more important politically than creating thousands of new jobs for Americans.

After all, by not passing the FTAs, politicians maintain union support but don't lose any political support because unemployed workers around the country aren't even aware that their lack of employment might be due to Congressional and presidential inaction on the FTAs.  If they pass the FTAs, elected officials lose union support, but don't gain any new political support because newly hired workers in U.S. industries exporting to Colombia and Panama may not even realize that their employment came about because of FTA passage.  And the thousands of newly created jobs from FTA passage would be dispersed throughout the economy in many industries, and those new workers, unlike organized labor, are not unified and organized as a powerful political block.  So politically, there is probably no net benefit from passing the FTAs, and a very likely net loss politically, especially for Obama and Democrats in Congress. 

Bottom Line: The failure to pass the FTAs has nothing to do with economics, logic, common sense, creating jobs, or what's best for the country as a whole, and everything to do with good ol' politics.