Colombia Free Trade

Labor Action and Inaction in Colombia Free Trade Deal

Michelle Chen | Posted 04.30.2012

Michelle Chen

While officials convened at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena earlier this month, the White House put the finishing touches on another free trade agreement. The deal has faced vocal resistance from labor and human rights groups in both countries.

Obama Praises Controversial Free Trade Deal

AP | JULIE PACE | Posted 04.15.2012

CARTAGENA, Colombia — Exposing a rift with Israel, President Barack Obama on Sunday insisted that the United States has not "given anything away...

Why Free Trade Isn't Trade

Ian Fletcher | Posted 01.19.2012

Ian Fletcher

The U.S. continues to lurch down the rubble-strewn path of free-trade fantasy economics, signing yet more trade agreements when the ones we already have haven't delivered as promised.

Courage and Common Ground

Jack Leslie | Posted 01.09.2012

Jack Leslie

Before dinner started, President Santos pulled me aside, and in a hushed but excited tone, told me that he was "95 percent sure" that his military forces had a few hours earlier killed Alfonso Cano, the leader of FARC and Colombia's most wanted terrorist.

Bipartisan Fail: Politicians Ignore the People and Double Down on Corporate "Free Trade" At Their Own Peril

Curtis Ellis | Posted 12.13.2011

Curtis Ellis

So much for bipartisanship. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have approved the one part of President Obama's jobs agenda voters hate the most.

Propaganda By Deed: 99% Protesters #Occupy the Senate

Robert Naiman | Posted 12.12.2011

Robert Naiman

It's striking that at this late date, Senator Kerry would still be promoting a corporate-driven trade agreement by claiming that the agreement would create jobs based on an estimate of increased exports, while ignoring the issue of imports.

Zach Carter

Free Trade Pact Advances Despite Rampant Murder

HuffingtonPost.com | Zach Carter | Posted 12.11.2011

This piece is a continuation of The Huffington Post's collaboration on trade issues with The Dylan Ratigan Show, called Trading Our Future. WASHING...

Colombia FTA: Blood Won't Easily Be Washed Away

Rep. Luis Gutierrez | Posted 12.11.2011

Rep. Luis Gutierrez

Voting for the Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a vote for violent union-busting, for driving people from their land, and setting the American working man and woman up to compete on an uneven playing field that will cost jobs and livelihoods.

Obama Pushes Huge Free Trade Deals to Wednesday Vote

Glenn Hurowitz | Posted 12.10.2011

Glenn Hurowitz

These trade agreements achieve a rare trifecta: it's hard to imagine a single initiative that at one time could so infuriate anti-corporate activists, labor unions, and environmentalists at the very moment these disparate movements are finding solidarity and support in the streets.

Walmart's Foray Into Fair Trade Art: Is It Real?

Posted 12.07.2011

Despite its reputation for signaling the end of the "mom and pop" shop, Walmart may be embracing business model that has some small-scale suppliers do...

Obama Seeing Bipartisanship on Trade Deals... Finally

Edward J. Black | Posted 12.05.2011

Edward J. Black

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are expected to work together next week to pass the long awaited trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

The U.S.-Colombia FTA: Still a Bad Deal for Human Rights

Lisa Haugaard | Posted 12.04.2011

Lisa Haugaard

In Washington, Congress is nearing a vote on the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement. Human rights, labor, environmental and faith-based groups agree: this agreement is a bad deal for human rights in Colombia.

Obama Flip-Flops Off Trade Cliff

Lori Wallach | Posted 12.04.2011

Lori Wallach

At this point, that Obama did a total flip-flop on very specific, written, repeated campaign promises -- in this instance to replace the old damaging trade model starting with fixing these three deals -- is not news.

Obama's Free Trade Sleight of Hand

Tim Robertson | Posted 12.04.2011

Tim Robertson

Obama is ignoring growing opposition from his Democratic base and voters across the political spectrum to resurrect policies Congress has refused to approve for over four years. And to get his message across, he's using every trick in the book.

Zach Carter

WATCH: House Opposition To Trade Deals Intensifies Amid Continued Violence In Colombia

HuffingtonPost.com | Zach Carter | Posted 10.11.2011

WASHINGTON -- On August 4, Senate leaders announced a "breakthrough" in negotiations over three trade deals currently pending before Congress that now...

How Free Trade Agreements Lead to Job Loss and Wealth Gaps

Michele Nash-Hoff | Posted 10.05.2011

Michele Nash-Hoff

It's time for us to review our unilateral free trade agreement with China that only seems to benefit China at the cost of jobs and even whole industries in the United States.

Dan Froomkin

Want To Know Who Will Benefit Most From Trade Deals? Watch The Lobbyists

HuffingtonPost.com | Dan Froomkin | Posted 09.24.2011

WASHINGTON -- The three major free trade agreements Congress will soon consider are being promoted as a big win for American workers. But take a good ...

No, Obama, We Don't Need Free Trade Agreements with Panama, Colombia, and Korea

Ian Fletcher | Posted 09.14.2011

Ian Fletcher

You think America has learned its lesson from NAFTA, which the Labor Department has estimated cost us 525,000 jobs? Think again.

Embattled Colombian Unionists Rally Against 'Free Trade'

Michelle Chen | Posted 09.13.2011

Michelle Chen

Gathering with fellow unionists in Washington, D.C., Jose Hugo Yanini speaks firmly about labor rights in Colombia. But a few weeks ago, the industria...

People Of Faith Rally Against Colombian Free Trade Agreement

Carol Howard Merritt | Posted 09.12.2011

Carol Howard Merritt

Free Trade Agreements have set up a system where large agro-business moves into a country, small farmers become devastated, indigenous citizens lose rights and the land becomes ravaged.

The Unanswered Questions Surrounding the U.S.-Colombia FTA

Kelly Nicholls | Posted 08.22.2011

Kelly Nicholls

Bowing to pressure, the Obama administration is pushing the FTA forward with little consideration of its potential impacts on marginalized and impoverished sectors of Colombian society.

AFL-CIO's Shameless Deceptions

Gary Shapiro | Posted 08.20.2011

Gary Shapiro

The battle over free trade has taken a crass -- and dishonest -- turn thanks to an ad campaign run by the AFL-CIO which suggests a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia is "about murder" of Colombian labor organizers.

U.S. Multinationals Revive NAFTA-Style Trade Deals on Capitol Hill

Michelle Chen | Posted 07.08.2011

Michelle Chen

Whatever nation wins in the neocolonial land grab, multinational agribusinesses will come out on top. As we saw with the NAFTA in Mexico's designated rural sector, big agriculture's gain is the small indigenous farmer's loss.

More Free Trade Agreements? When NAFTA Failed?

Ian Fletcher | Posted 05.25.2011

Ian Fletcher

With the Republicans and the Obama administration attempting to rush headlong into a new trade agreements with Korea, and possibly also with Panama and Colombia, it is incumbent on Americans to apply a bit of empiricism.

Obama's Travel: Opportunities in a Changing Americas

Eric Farnsworth | Posted 05.25.2011

Eric Farnsworth

With a sluggish recovery at home and Latin America increasingly looking to China to diversify economic and political ties, now is the time for the U.S. to show it is a willing partner that takes the region's concerns seriously.