President George W. Bush said Thursday he wants a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, which would be Washington's largest Western Hemisphere trade pact since the 1994 NAFTA deal with Mexico and Canada. In a letter to Congress, Bush said the deal would benefit Colombians by expanding economic opportunity and strengthening democracy. He said it would generate export opportunities for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and companies. Trade negotiators in Colombia have said their country is being unfairly punished because of the White House's refusal to push a bilateral FTA through Congress ahead of November's elections. The deal also is a unique test of Washington's leadership in a region where trade deals that lock in billion-dollar subsidies for U.S. farmers have been sharply criticized. In 1991, Washington granted trade privileges covering thousands of products to help four Andean countries—Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia—diversify their economies away from production of coca, the base ingredient of cocaine. But that deal is set to expire, restoring 18 percent tariffs. President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, the strongest U.S. ally in South America, hopes an FTA replaces the expiring deal. In February, Uribe risked his own re-election chances and traveled to Washington to conclude talks over the elimination of most tariffs on Colombian goods. Since then, the White House has delayed bilateral talks on an FTA, perhaps fearing another highly politicized trade deal could hurt the re-elections chances of Republican incumbents in this autumn's elections.
