Obama to Colombia to Boost US Exports

[Zorro]

Source: ABC News

President Obama visited one of the nation's busiest seaports today as a prelude to weekend South American summit that he said is about courting customers for U.S. exports in order to boost job growth at home.

"Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers live outside our borders. We want them buying our products. And I'm willing to go anywhere in the world to open up new markets for American businesses," Obama told a crowd of port workers and small business leaders at the Port of Tampa, Fla.

"In fact, that's what I'm going to be doing right after this visit to Tampa. I'm heading to Colombia to take part in the Summit of the Americas, which brings together leaders from the Caribbean, and from North, South and Central America," he said.

Obama, who had set a goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2014, said business with trading partners in the Western Hemisphere is booming - up 46 percent since 2009. He called the trend a "big deal," especially for Tampa and Florida, a state critical to his re-election bid.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-colombia-boost-us-exports-205255140--abc-news-politics.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. We will sell our products to shitbag countries who kill unionist.

Will that be a campaign slogan or a bumpersticker?

[joshcryer]

2. This Colombian painter has an idea:

(The cop made her drop the painting moments later.)

[Lasher]

3. The Colombia Free Trade Agreement isn't mentioned anywhere in the article.

That's interesting.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Small oversight, isn't it? Congressional Democrats have been fighting that one for years.

President Obama even promised during his campaign to continue the fight. What a miserable shame.

Powers greater than a mere Democratic President seem to be running the show, in spite of everything.

[Lasher]

6. Most House Democrats continued to oppose it but Senate Democrats went along.

On October 12 last year, it was passed by the House 262-167 and the Senate 66-33. Only 31 House Democrats voted aye, but 30 Senate Democrats and Lieberman voted yea.

I share your disappointment, but I don't think Obama is as reluctant as he outwardly seems.

[jwirr]

5. I hope we are not exporting more weapons. War on to the South of us is too close. We should

actually stop exporting weapons anywhere. Too often used against us.

[Judi Lynn]

7. A.F.L.-C.I.O. Chief Sends Obama Letter Voicing Concern About Labor Killings in Colombia

April 12, 2012, 1:01 pm
A.F.L.-C.I.O. Chief Sends Obama Letter Voicing Concern About Labor Killings in Colombia
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

With President Obama scheduled to attend the Summit of the Americas in Colombia this weekend, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president has sent him a toughly worded letter saying that he should not officially certify that Colombia has done enough to stop a decades-long series of killings of union leaders and supporters there.

Richard L. Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president, wrote that it would be wrong to grant such certification because Colombia had done far too little to stop the killings. Mr. Trumka also maintained that Colombia had not fulfilled many of the promises it made as part of a “labor action plan” that it embraced last April to help persuade Congress to ratify a free-trade accord.

Mr. Trumka asserted that the Colombian government had fallen short on its commitment to prosecute and reduce impunity for those who have murdered union supporters.

“Less than 10 percent of the nearly 3,000 cases of trade unionists murders since 1986 have reached a conviction,” Mr. Trumka wrote. “The powers behind the crimes remain almost completely free from punishment. None of the 29 labor activists killed in 2011 had their cases resolved by a successful prosecution.”

More:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/a-f-l-c-i-o-chief-sends-criticial-letter-to-obama-on-colombia/