US trade deal with Colombia announced

The Obama administration has announced a renegotiated trade agreement with Colombia.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Michael Froman, the deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, held a noon conference call to announce an agreement on the controversial trade deal.

The reworked agreement could help break a logjam of trade deals on Capitol Hill. Republicans in both the House and the Senate have been calling on the administration to send pending agreements with Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval and have threatened to hold up another renegotiated trade deal with Korea until action was taken on the other two.

In addition, business groups will likely greet the new deal with praise. Industry has been lobbying for years to see action on the pending Colombia deal.

The labor movement, however, is expected to oppose the agreement. Union leaders have long criticized Colombia's record of violence against trade unions and have opposed signing a trade deal with the South American country.

This post was initially published at 10:37 a.m.

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