As White House Press Secretary Jay Carney promises movement on the U.S.-Colombia trade agreement “Sooner than later" (subscription required) , Senators John Kerry and Max Baucus write that Colombia is a “Different kind of jobs bill.”

Also, seven New Democrats sent a letter to President Obama on Friday declared their support for the incredibly important U.S.-Korea trade agreement — which they had done before — but then went on to say: “Similarly, we believe it is essential that the U.S. move forward towards passage this year on remaining bilateral agreements with Panama and Colombia, both of which are critical for our economic and security interests.”

The Chamber serves as secretariat for the Latin America Trade Coalition, which brings together more than 1,200 companies and associations that are advocating for approval of the U.S.-Colombia and U.S.-Panama trade agreements. The LATC has just released an updated set of fact sheets on the pending trade agreements, and we encourage you to take a look — they make a strong case for approval of the agreements.

The simple reason why is because more and more people are learning that trade means jobs.

To show the benefits of America’s trade agreements for U.S. workers, the U.S. Chamber commissioned a study that found nearly 18 million U.S. jobs depend on trade with America’s free trade agreement (FTA) partners—5.4 million of which were created by the increase in trade unleashed by the agreements.  Congress has already demonstrated strong support for similar FTAs, passing a trade agreement with Peru that is nearly identical to the Colombia and Panama FTAs in November 2007 with strong, bi-partisan majorities.

It’s finally time for action on the outstanding FTAs.