The candidates Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernandez they proposed renegotiate the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, which turned 10 years old. And, given this, President Iván Duque spoke.
The president’s words were given at the second edition of the United Kingdom-Colombia Trade Dialogue forum, during a last visit to the United Kingdom before the presidential elections.
“When commercial relationships have been forged that bring investment, that generate jobs and opportunities, breaking with that would be unprecedented stupidityDuke said.
(See: President Duque met with businessmen from the United Kingdom).
“Precisely the State policies lead to us having more trade and investment. Whoever scares off investment and trade today is only going to punish opportunities in the country“, he added.
The president is in the United Kingdom finalizing details for the formalization of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the United Kingdom.
The Petro candidate’s proposal was revealed in an interview with the newspaper EL TIEMPO.
In the lengthy talk, he was asked: “With regard to the United States, 10 years have passed since the entry into force of the FTA. What is your balance?“.
(See: The Colombian regions that most take advantage of the FTA with the US.).
“Has the FTA helped to make drug trafficking grow or has the FTA helped to eliminate or reduce it? When I went to the United States, at the time of those debates, speaking with US congressmen, I told them that, looking forward, the FTA was going to be an instrument that was going to empower drug trafficking in Colombia. That was my thesis. Well, what happened? That drug trafficking was empowered, we reduced our food production, that the countryside of Colombia was emptied, that it was de-industrialized; what we had in the metalworking industry no longer exists. And what has grown is the production of cocaine. We must talk to the United States about the FTA“.
“That requires that both parties want to renegotiate. In the event that the United States is not open to that possibility, would it be feasible to denounce the treaty?“, asked the TIME.
(See: FTA with the US totals US$127 billion in ten years).
“I believe in dialogue. Of course, there is a probability that it will not be possible to discuss the conditions under which the FTA was signed, that probability exists, and then if the United States says no, then it cannot be said yes because the treaty is bilateral. But I would thoroughly exhaust that possibility of a bilateral modification of the treaty, which has already been done in other parts. Trump did it with Mexico, for examplePeter replied.
Rodolfo Hernandez, For his part, he said that he will review the FTAs so that “Colombian industry can increase its productivity and its exports” to be “competitive in this commercial framework”.
WEATHER – POLITICS
