Via the BBC: Colombia seals trade deal with US

Colombia has clinched a free trade deal with the US after nearly two years of talks, US officials have confirmed.

The deal is designed to advance free trade, promote economic development and combat cocaine trafficking, US trade representative Rob Portman said.

The focus appears to be on agricultural products. It should make Alabama’s poultry farmers happy.

More from the NYT: U.S. and Colombia Reach Trade Deal After 2 Years of Talks

The deal with Colombia is important because the country’s economic output, which tops $100 billion, is bigger than that of any other country in the region that has a trade deal with the administration. Two-way trade between the countries was $14.3 billion last year — with American exports to Colombia at $5.4 billion.

The United States, which has provided Colombia with nearly $5 billion to fight drugs and Marxist rebels since 2024, also has an interest in seeing President Álvaro Uribe succeed.

However, Lori Wallach, director of Global Trade Watch, part of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said the deal battered generic drug makers in Colombia and important agricultural sectors like chicken, wheat and rice. It also permits American companies to bid on public services contracts, a delicate issue in Latin America, where there has been criticism of foreign conglomerates running services like water.

[…]

While some Colombian producers, like growers of flowers, would benefit, several sectors worry that American agricultural products would swamp Colombia. That could displace farm workers, who might turn to illegal drug crops, like coca, the leaf used to make cocaine.

Rice growers, who are found in much of the country, say they expect to be put out of business eventually.

The deal still has to go to the respective country’s congresses.