Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Colombia FTA and the Middle East

There is an article in the Miami Herald about Latin America's ties to the Middle East, which is largely interesting but one part grated on me:

Amid mounting frustration with the U.S. Congress’ refusal to pass a free trade agreement with Colombia, Santos has talked of the need to build new trade routes, including with the Middle East. And the country plans to open embassies in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey this year.

This meme is tiresome.  Whether or not an FTA is passed is irrelevant to Colombia's trade with the rest of the world.  An FTA does not mean that you suddenly stop trading with everyone else.  Chile has roughly fifty free trade agreements, and continues to "build new trade routes" all the time.

1 comments:

Defensores de Democracia 6:03 PM  

Mr Weeks

Muleteers say "Loads are arranged in the way" ... meaning that in the course of the trip some mules will be tired, others will be easy and strong, some burdens are about to fall, some mules may be suffering from tortures and sore spots under belts, etc ... so you stop the mules and fix the burdens.

This is fixing the loads and burdens during the trip to fit the strength and health of the mules.

FTAs can be denounced, rescinded, repealed, annuled, canceled, voided by circumstances that occur in the following years.

So people that are extremely protectionist and hate "Free Trade Agreements" may be driven by fear, like those children that do not want to ride in a horse for the first time.

Vicente

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP