Free Trade

Is It Time for a Free Trade Agreement with Columbia? Only if we want a strong economy.

The key to an individual’s economic success is being able to sell what you have to others, whether it’s products or your time. And being able to buy what you need at the best available price. That’s also the key to a country’s economic success. So why do so many Democrats oppose what’s known as free trade agreements with other countries, especially Columbia? Columbians pay tariffs, or taxes, on about 8 percent of what they sell to the United States. Americans, by contrast, pay tariffs of up to 37 percent on nearly all of the products we sell to Columbia. Those tariffs make U.S. products more expensive and harder to sell. A free trade agreement would end that disparity. Taxing U.S. products doesn’t punish other countries; we’re only punishing ourselves.