Senators urge Obama administration to expedite free trade agreements

Two senators are urging U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to identify the remaining issues and provide a timetable to expedite and complete the Colombia and Panama free trade agreements (FTAs). 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sent a letter to Kirk on Monday urging him to act quickly so that Congress can approve the pending agreements.  

In the letter, the lawmakers asked Kirk to determine the additional steps that Panama or Colombia should take and to provide a timetable for moving the agreements for a March 9 hearing. 

"U.S. exports to these markets have faced barriers for far too long," the senators wrote. "Panama and Colombia both made clear commitments to eliminate these barriers and open their markets, but the administration has not taken action that would allow U.S. exporters to benefit from these commitments."

Baucus will travel to Colombia next week to meet with senior government officials to discuss the pending U.S.-Colombia FTA and other key economic and trade issues.

Congress is expected to receive final language on the agreement with South Korea by March, Kirk said at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week. 

Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has chosen July 1 as the deadline to move the three pending agreements, which Republicans have called long overdue. 

Kirk said he's been asked by President Obama to "intensify" discussions to move the agreements forward.  

"We welcome your engagement and seek to undertake congressional consideration of these agreements in the near future," the senators wrote. 

Meetings are scheduled between U.S. and Colombian officials next week, with plans to meet on the remaining issues related to the agreement with Panama in the near future. 

"We will be eager to learn the results of these meetings as soon as possible," they wrote. 

Especially with regard to the Colombia and Panama FTAs, there is still a slate of "serious issues" that need to be resolved before those agreements can be submitted for congressional consideration, Kirk said last week. 

"Some of these issues go to core U.S. values and interests, such as the protection of labor rights," he said. "Any timetable will be contingent on the successful resolution of these issues."