With the Colombian trade agreement once more in the news, I thought it might be a good time to review the situation.

Last year, the new Democratic majority in Congress sought additional protections for labor rights and the environment in trade agreements. The result was the bipartisan trade deal reached on May 10, 2007, which was incorporated into the pending trade agreement with Colombia. The exact same provisions were incorporated into the trade agreement with Peru, which won Congressional approval with a broad bipartisan majority in Congress. Colombia’s Congress has already enacted into law all of the provisions on labor and the environment agreed to in the bipartisan trade deal of May 10, 2007.

Currently nearly all imports from Colombia enter the U.S. market duty free under the Andean Trade Preference Act, which Congress has renewed repeatedly with support of Democrats, Republicans, the business community and even the AFL-CIO.  By contrast, U.S. exporters face double-digit tariffs when they try to sell their goods in Colombia. This status quo obviously is unfair to American workers, farmers and businesses. Congress has a duty to look out for the trading interests of American citizens at least as carefully as it does those of our friends and allies overseas.

Why does Congress allow this uneven playing field to persist? The sole objection to the agreement appears to be that Colombia’s trade unionists are allegedly the targets of a campaign of violence.   Let's look at the facts:

• The homicide rate among Colombian trade unionists (5 per 100,000 in 2007) is even lower than the U.S. homicide rate (5.6 per 100,000).
• New Orleans, Detroit, and Baltimore have much higher murder rates at 67, 46, and 45 per 100,000, respectively.
• The homicide rate among Colombian trade unionists is one-seventh the homicide rate for the country as a whole. There is no evidence at all that Colombian labor leaders are being targeted for assassination.
• Since 2001, the Prosecutor General’s office has convicted 156 people in 73 cases involving trade unionists.
• With regard to 187 cases identified by Colombia’s labor unions as their top priorities for prosecution, 38 people were convicted in 2007 alone, with many others currently before the judiciary.
• The Prosecutor General’s office has received a 75% increase in funding over the past five years, allowing it to hire nearly a thousand new prosecutors and investigators.