TIME FOR THE COLOMBIAN TRADE PACT

American workers are understandably anxious. Their incomes went
nowhere through six years of economic growth. Many are losing their
jobs as the economy slips into recession. Yet concern about workers'
plight should not lead Congressional Democrats to reject the trade
agreement with Colombia. This deal would benefit the American economy
and further the nation's broader interests in Latin America.

It is time for Congress to ratify it.

The trade pact would produce clear benefits for American businesses
and their workers. Most Colombian exports are exempt from United
States' tariffs. American exports, however, face high Colombian
tariffs and would benefit as the so-called trade promotion agreement
brought them down to zero.

The deal also would strengthen the institutional bonds tying the
United States to Colombia, one of America's few allies in an
important region that has become increasingly hostile to the United
States' interests. Perhaps most important, the deal would provide a
tool for Colombia's development, drawing investment and helping the
nation extricate itself from the mire of poverty that provides
sustenance to drug trafficking and a bloody insurgency.

Violence in Colombia is way too high. We remain very concerned over
the killing of trade unionists by right-wing paramilitary groups.
Last year, we advised Congress not to ratify the trade agreement
until Colombia demonstrated progress in investigating the murders and
prosecuting and convicting their perpetrators.

Though by no means ideal, the situation today has improved.
Thirty-nine trade unionists were killed last year, down from 197 in
2001, the year before the government of Alvaro Uribe came to office.
Prosecutors obtained 36 convictions for the murder of trade unionists
- -- up from 11 in 2006 and only one in 2001. The budget of the
prosecutor general's office has increased every year. Last year, it
created a special unit to prosecute labor murders that has obtained
13 sentences.

Pressure from the United States Congress has contributed to this
progress, nudging the Colombian government with its offer that gains
on the human rights front would lead to ratification of the trade
agreement. Washington must sustain the pressure to ensure the
energetic prosecution of crimes by paramilitary thugs and further
reduce violence against union members. It has a powerful tool to do
so: about $600 million a year in mostly military aid for Colombia to
combat drug trafficking. The money must be approved by Congress every year.

Rejecting or putting on ice the trade agreement would reduce the
United States' credibility and leverage in Colombia and beyond. In a
letter last year to Congressional Democrats, a group of Democratic
heavyweights from the Clinton administration and previous Congresses
wrote: "Walking away from the Colombia trade agreement or postponing
it until conditions are perfect would send an unambiguous signal to
our friends and opponents alike that the United States is an
unreliable partner without a vision for cooperation in our
hemisphere." It would serve human rights in Colombia no good.

Unfortunately, the agreement has become entangled in political
jockeying between the White House and Democrats. The Democrats are
right to demand assistance for American workers, and the Bush
administration should work with Congress to expand the safety net for
workers displaced by globalization. But this should not stop the
Colombian trade pact from coming to fruition.