Harvard Expert, Former New York Times Journalist Edward Schumacher-Matos: “Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may have their hearts in the right place in opposing a trade agreement with Colombia. It's their better judgment that is mistaken … The agreement, which President Bush sent this week to Congress for an up or down vote, essentially makes permanent the trade preferences that Colombia has had for 17 years. What is new is that the treaty opens the Colombian market to US exports … US goods, however, still face tariffs of 35 percent and higher. Under the new agreement, 80 percent of US auto parts, medical equipment, and farm and other products will be duty free immediately. The rest will be phased in over 10 years … What Colombia needs is the continued economic growth that is overcoming both social ills and the violence. The free trade agreement promises that, just as it promises growth for American workers.” (Boston Globe, 4/11/08)

San Francisco Chronicle: “…House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing politics by pandering to free-trade foes. Instead of accepting the usual fast-track process of voting up or down on the treaty within 90 days, she plans to rip up these rules and sidetrack the matter. It's not hard to guess why. She's clearing the field of a painful Democratic dilemma: backing wider trade that unions fear will threaten their jobs. … There may be more trouble ahead. A similar plan to lower tariffs with South Korea, a far bigger economic power, is coming next. Pushing that treaty away would be an even bigger mistake.” (Editorial, 4/11/08)

The Economist: “Protectionist electioneering threatens a good trade deal ... For years, the United States has regularly renewed its preferential tariffs on nearly all Colombian exports, and in 2006 Colombia agreed to drop its barriers to American goods, too, in exchange for the arrangement being made permanent. Colombia hoped that the deal would prompt a wave of inward investment. But Democrats in Congress, encouraged by trade unions, protested … Killing the treaty would be a blow to Colombia and its leader, Álvaro Uribe, a staunch American ally in a region trending in the opposite direction … If the deal goes down, the benefits of befriending the colossus to the north will seem less dependable across the continent, complicating American diplomacy there. And in America the FTA's death might shatter the long-standing consensus on free trade in Washington by emboldening protectionists.” (4/10/08)

Makato (MN) Free Press: “Democrats miss value of free trade … The use of procedural rules by the House of Representatives Thursday to delay an important free trade agreement with Colombia was unfortunate, and described by the mainstream press as an ‘election-year showdown.’ That’s usually short for ‘politics as usual.’ Democrats changed their own rule for approving free trade agreement proposed by the president … The Democratic-controlled House, in essence, removed one thing the body as a whole desperately needs: Deadlines to get things done … The recent episode rings of politics. Unfortunately, leading Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain cool to the idea that trade can gain us more inroads to influencing a country’s government than harsh words and finger wagging.” (Editorial, 4/11/08)

Investor’s Business Daily: “Pelosi's move leaves Colombia, an ally, in limbo and uncertainty. She may think her clever maneuver was done in a vacuum, but it wasn't. In Venezuela's capital of Caracas, where Hugo Chavez holds forth, and in the jungles of Colombia, where drug terrorists hide out, Pelosi's move was watched closely. Indeed, within hours of the vote, Latin American media already were calling Pelosi's maneuver the ‘Chavez Rule.’ The Venezuelan dictator is no doubt fascinated at how Pelosi could do this to America's best ally in Latin America, punishing a vibrant democracy by isolating it from all the other nations that have sought and won free trade … Now, thanks to Pelosi's bid to shunt Colombia off to trade limbo, the potential for war in a tinderbox Andean region — over any border incident or FARC terrorist attack — has been heightened.” (Editorial, 4/10/08)

New York Post: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has an interesting way of dealing with the politically explosive - well, for Democrats, anyway - issue of free trade: She cheats. That's precisely what House Democrats, at Pelosi's insistence, did yesterday. In an unprecedented move, they changed the rules in the middle of the game - eliminating a longstanding rule that would have required them to vote within 60 days on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Never mind that the agreement is in the best interests of American consumers and those ‘working families’ the Democrats pretend to represent. The party's Big Labor patrons - who provide crucial cash and campaign workers - said they wanted the agreement killed. And so it was - completing the Democrats' abandonment of the party's free-trade roots … Big Labor said no - so Pelosi & Co. simply clicked their heels and snapped to attention … Moreover, the Democrats have spurned America's closest Latin American ally - the only one willing to stand up to the insidious Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Embracing protectionism pleases the Democrats' paymasters - but at what cost to the country's long-term interests? It's shameful..” (Editorial, 4/11/08)

The Oklahoman: “Pelosi's ploy: Colombia deal succumbs to politics. Hypocrisy is so rampant in Washington, it's no surprise a proposed free trade deal with Colombia is its newest victim. Sadly, the level of false pretense by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats in this case is in a class all its own. Recall that Pelosi & Co. regularly flog the Bush administration for manufacturing job losses, the monthly trade deficit, America's global image and alleged inattentiveness to hemispheric relations. To recap, that's jobs, opening foreign markets to U.S. goods, improved image and better hemispheric relations. Check, check, check and check. On all four, the Colombia free trade agreement (FTA) is a no-brainer … the FTA would immediately open the Colombian market to more than 80 percent of U.S. exports with remaining tariffs to be phased out over 10 years. Behind every U.S. export is a U.S. job … Democrats have turned protectionist at big labor's bidding.” (Editorial, 4/11/08)