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Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez
Remarks at Joint Press Conference with Members of Congress on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Washington, D.C.

SECRETARY: Thank you, Leader McConnell. Today we are unveiling a tariff ticker. It will show on a daily basis the amount of tariffs that our exporters are paying to Colombia that they wouldn’t have to pay if we had the free trade agreement approved. We signed that agreement 520s day ago. In that time our exporters, farmers and small businesses have paid almost one billion dollars in tariffs. Those tariffs are increasing at a rate of $2 million dollars per day. Sixteen years ago Congress voted to grant preferences to Colombian exporters. So they’re coming into our country duty-free. But because we have not taken a vote on the Colombia free trade agreement, our exporters are at a disadvantage. So this ticker will be a daily reminder to the American people—to the Members of Congress—that our farmers, our workers, our small businesses are at a disadvantage because we will not submit the FTA with Colombia to a vote, and we find that that is an outrage. Our exporters, our workers, our farmers deserve better.

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QUESTION: Do you have an understanding from the Speaker and from the Democrats as to what they would like from the Administration?

SECRETARY: I think the President has made it very clear that from his standpoint the bill has been killed until it comes back for a vote. That seems to be pretty obvious. The Administration has always been willing to talk about projects and programs and initiatives that will benefit the American people.

What the President does not want to do is use Colombia, use an ally as a bargaining chip. So the free trade agreement with Colombia is one thing. And we would like a date. And the President wants to see a date put on the calendar for a vote. Other initiatives that Members of Congress want to talk about, the Administration is always ready to talk and work in a bipartisan way, but we don’t think it’s right to use an ally as leverage or as a bargaining chip.