This morning, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk sent a letter to Congress indicating the administration is ready to engage in technical talks on the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement. The move confirms that the action plan clinched by President Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos last month is being implemented effectively. The administration signaled it is ready to move to this next state on the Korea and Panama trade agreements in March and April, respectively.

And so a grand bargain on trade is taking shape. In the weeks ahead, the United States has a chance to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to secure approval of the pending trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. 

We also need to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance, the Andean Trade Preferences, and the Generalized System of Preferences.

Support from the American business and agriculture communities for the U.S.-Colombia accord is extremely broad and intense.  The agreement enjoys the enthusiastic support of more than 1,200 U.S. business and agricultural organizations, chambers of commerce, and companies that together employ more than 10 million American workers — the Latin America Trade Coalition, which is the largest trade coalition in Washington history.

And check out the list of companies and associations that have specifically expressed support for the Colombia accord in the past month.

As I wrote in The Hill, “There will be disputes in the weeks ahead about the sequence and linkages among the three agreements and the three lapsed trade programs. We must keep them in perspective. We can’t let them stand in the way of a breakthrough on trade that has been a long time coming.”

“We have a chance in the weeks ahead to create American jobs, reaffirm vital alliances, and show that the United States can still lead. Let’s seize it — now — with both hands.”