Only days after President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans pledged to work together on trade, three Republican senators are holding up a bipartisan House trade bill to maintain their leverage over trade policy next year.
If the bill doesn't pass, 140,000 workers will lose training benefits Jan. 1 and scores of developing countries will see U.S. tariffs for their products rise, potentially locking them out of the U.S. market.
Ironically, the three Republican senators – Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona – are holding up the bill in part to pressure Democrats to move a pending free trade pact with Colombia, according to congressional staffers and lobbyists. Yet one of the biggest losers from the delay will be Colombia, which will lose crucial tariff preferences for cut flowers, just ahead of the Valentines Day holiday that accounts for a huge share of its export earnings.
To read the rest of this story please go to: Politico