Canada May Have Colombia Free Trade By July 1
Canada is on the fast track to reap the benefits of free trade with Colombia in as little as two weeks, with a treaty almost identical to what the U.S. has kept on ice for more than three years.
On Monday, the House of Commons decisively approved, 188-79, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement after three months’ debate. The last step is Senate passage, and that may come sooner than many expect.
A source on Canada’s committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade tells IBD that Canada’s Colombia treaty, known as C2, has been given “priority” second only to Canada’s C9 budget bill ahead of parliament’s summer break.
Parliament typically doesn’t go on vacation until all its business is finished. So lawmakers usually wrap up their spring agenda no later than July 1. That’s just two weeks from now.
Meanwhile in the U.S., Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., recently told Colombia’s President Uribe that Congress had only 40 days left in its U.S. session, so there wasn’t enough time for the Colombia pact. The reality is that Democrats have no desire to cross their union allies on free trade.
If Canada’s Senate clears the treaty, it goes into effect immediately.
In other words, Canada is moving at bullet speed to snap up Colombia’s growing market,