Kristin Sampson, Senior Research Associate of the Engendering Economic and Social Policy project - December 08, 2006.

International trade issues have frequently emerged as a topic in recent Washington Post editorials. Last week, Robert J. Samuelson in his editorial “’Fair Trade' Foolishness” argued that “In the name of “fair trade,” we may punish our own exporters.” Samuelson goes on to suggest that opposition by Democratic leaders to the pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Peru signifies “trade obstructionism.” The basic crux of his argument is that the indictment against free trade is largely wrong and that now is precisely the time for the U.S. to be involved in trade negotiations to expand export markets.

Mark Engler, DemocracyUprising.com -- Positive signs that a new Democratic Congress is breaking with the corporate globalization agenda. November 30, 2006.

Long a bipartisan crusade in Washington, “free trade” is now set to face some overdue opposition. And there’s no better time to start the rumble than in the lame duck session of Congress.

The US presidential administration signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia on 22 November, touching off indignation among Congressional Democrats who had been seeking to have the accord modified to include tougher labour standards.

November 22, 2006 -- blog.aflcio.org -- Jeff Vogt, global economic policy specialist in the AFL-CIO Legislation Department, describes how once again, the Bush administration is signing a trade agreement that ignores workers’ fundamental rights.

The United States and the Republic of Colombia today are signing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), despite urgent calls from leading Democrats to renegotiate the agreement to strengthen labor protections.

Rep. Linda Sanchez. November 22, 6006 -- The Huffington Post Blog

Over the past decade, our trade policy has run amok.

We have learned the hard way from NAFTA - and the deals like CAFTA that have spawned from it - that our skepticism of the free trade model is well-founded.

Oxfam Urges Focus on Trade Preferences for Developing Countries Instead

International aid organization Oxfam criticized the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in Washington today, an agreement it says will harm thousands of vulnerable small farmers, restrict access to affordable medicines and favor foreign investors over domestic development needs.

November 22, 2006 -- By Signing Colombia Free Trade Agreement Without Addressing Democrats’ Concerns, Bush Administration Signals It Would Rather Play Partisan Political Games Than Pass a Trade Agreement

Helda Martínez - BOGOTA, Nov 21 (IPS) - Indigenous and black people, trade unionists and victims of the armed conflict in Colombia are preparing to fight the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, which will be signed by the trade ministers of both countries Wednesday in Washington.

By Peter S. Goodman, The Washington Post. Tuesday 14 November 2006

As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, incoming leaders are planning to insert labor and environmental protections into pending trade treaties and to demand that the Bush administration adopt similar measures in future pacts it negotiates, congressional aides and government officials said yesterday.

Bogotá, November 13, 2006

The Honorable U.S. Congress
Washington D.C.
U.S.A.

A cordial greeting:

Not a single organization that represents workers, peasants, native peoples, students, intellectuals or other sectors of the common people of Colombia supports the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. Even the majority of organizations of agricultural businesspeople opposed the treaty until February 27, 2006, the day when the signature was affixed. But we do not reject the FTA because we are opposed in principle to international business or to relations with the United States. We are opposed because it sacrifices the sovereignty of Colombia, it annexes the Colombian economy to that of the United States, and it takes away from our country the main instruments of development and thus will increase the poverty of almost all Colombians.