House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is calling on the Obama administration to put forward a defined timetable for moving the stalled Panama and Colombia free trade agreements through Congress. Speaking at an event organized by the Association of Women in International Trade, Brady also said he believed there were currently enough votes in the House to pass both FTAs.
Recently, the Obama administration has committed to moving the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, with a target date of July 1 for congressional passage. However, the administration has remained mum on a time line for the other two pending FTAs with Colombia and Panama.
In addition to Korea, it is critical that the other FTAs move forward as well, Brady said. "We will continue to push for that going forward. Our view has never been necessarily that we insist upon one vote, but that we have one defined determined timetable, whether it is a tight sequence or a timetable over a period of time to move those three."
On another subject, Brady said that the continuing failure by the United States to address the North American Free Trade Agreement cross-border trucking dispute with Mexico has hurt U.S. export interests and raised transaction costs. He welcomed a recent concept paper released by the Obama administration on a path forward for resolving the trucking dispute. "This is a long overdue first step," Brady said. "It's critical that we resolve the trucking issue just as soon as possible."
