Sen. Orrin Hatch is calling on President Barak Obama to submit several trade pacts to Congress for approval, which he insists are long overdue and could help the nation’s struggling economy.
“The longer this administration delays the further our economy falls behind,” said Hatch, R-Utah, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee.
In a statement Monday, Hatch noted that the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement has just taken effect while a similar bilateral accord signed in 2006 by the United States and Colombia has yet to be submitted to Congress for approval.
He also urged the president to submit similar bilateral accords with Panama and South Korea for approval as well.
Hatch said once the agreement with Colombia becomes enforceable, “more than 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia will become duty-free immediately.”
The senator also said the International Trade Commission has estimated that tariff reductions included in the agreement with Colombia “will expand exports of U.S. goods by more $1.1 billion” and increase the U.S. gross domestic product output by $2.5 billion.
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