Agriculture in Pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea
February 14, 2011 - R40622
The 112th Congress is expected to consider separate free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by the Bush Administration with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia. If and when submitted, these trade agreements will be debated under trade promotion authority, or fast-track rules, designed to expedite congressional consideration. Liberalizing trade in agricultural products, particularly the pace of expanding market access for the more sensitive agricultural commodities, was one of the more challenging areas that trade negotiators faced in concluding each of these FTAs. In each instance, issues dealing with food safety and animal/plant health matters (technically not part of the FTA negotiating agenda) were not resolved until later. Of these three pending agreements, the U.S.-South Korea (KORUS) FTA would be the most commercially significant for U.S. agriculture since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect with Mexico in 1994. Because Colombia, one of the largest markets in South America, imposes a high level of border protection on agricultural imports, the Colombia FTA has the potential to noticeably increase U.S. agricultural exports. Though Panama is a relatively small market, U.S. exporters would have opportunities to make additional sales. Many U.S. commodity groups, some general farm organizations, and many agribusiness and food firms ...