President Barack Obama today signed the bills approving the implementation of free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, as well as a bill extending the generalized system of preferences program through July 31, 2013, and reauthorizing the trade adjustment assistance program through Dec. 31, 2013. Read More...

President Barack Obama will sign the Korea, Panama and Colombia free trade agreements and the renewal of trade adjustment assistance workers and farmers hurt by trade on Friday, the White House announced today. Read More...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan all celebrated the congressional approval of the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama on Friday. Read More...

The three trade agreements passed the Senate with solid majorities Wednesday evening, following House passage. Read More...

The House of Representatives passed the free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama tonight, while the Senate is expected to approve the agreements later this evening. Read More...

The House and the Senate are expected to vote Wednesday on bills to implement the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Read More...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., will hold a markup session Tuesday on the pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, and to vote on four nominations President Barack Obama has made for positions that require Senate confirmation. Read More...

The House Ways and Means Committee today approved the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, clearing them for floor action, Ways and Means trade subcommittee chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said late this afternoon. Read More...

The Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee will hold a markup Wednesday on the Korea, Colombia and Panama free trade agreements that President Barack Obama submitted to Congress on Monday for approval, but two key Democrats on the committee say they will oppose the Colombia agreement. Read More...

President Barack Obama today submitted the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval. The president’s submission of the agreements is a signal that the administration has confidence that the House will approve trade adjustment assistance (TAA) for workers and farmers hurt by free trade. The Senate has already passed TAA. Read More...

The Senate today paved the way for congressional consideration of the pending free-trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama by passing a bill that extends trade adjustment assistance for workers and farmers hurt by international trade. But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House will not take up the trade adjustment bill until President Barack Obama formally sends the agreements to Congress for consideration. Read More...

As the Canadian-Colombian free trade agreement entered into force today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Senate Finance ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, urged passage of the U.S.-Colombian free trade agreement, but emphasized different points. Read More...

In “mock markups” to advise the Obama administration on implementing legislation, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee today approved the Korea, Panama and Colombia free trade agreements without amendments, and Senate Finance also approved an extension of trade adjustment assistance for workers and farmers who have been hurt by trade agreements. Read More...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., has scheduled a “mock markup” on implementing legislation for the pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama, on Thursday but the conflicts between Democrats and Repbublicans on how to handle the issue of trade adjustment assistance for workers and farmers hurt by trade agreements appears to be continuing. Read More...

Reacting to Senate Finance Committee Republicans boycotting a markup of implementing legislation for the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama and renewal of trade adjustment assistance, American Farm Bureau Federation trade lobbyist Chris Garza said Friday that Congress should stop playing politics, and National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch said that Republicans were inadvertently helping labor unions that want to stop the agreements. Read More...

As a Senate Finance Committee “mock markup” of implementation legislation for the Korea, Panama and Colombia free trade agreements approaches this afternoon, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Feed Industry Association have endorsed a plan to seek congressional approval of the agreements and reauthorization of trade adjustment authority (TAA) for workers hurt by imports, even as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and some Senate Republicans continue to spar over the inclusion of TAA in the package. Read More...

Farm and business groups have begun pushing for congressional approval of the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, even though House Republican leaders and conservative groups are still expressing some concerns about the deal with congressional Republicans that the White House announced Tuesday. Read More...

The Obama administration’s announcement that Colombia has completed the second stage of action items on a labor rights plan related to its proposed free trade agreement with the United States prompted Democrats to call for advancing the agreement in conjunction with trade adjustment assistance for American workers and Republicans to ask President Obama to send the agreement to Capitol Hill immediately. Read More...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told a meat export group today that the pending trade agreements with Korea, Panama and Colombia must be passed together with trade adjustment assistance for American workers, and then proceeded to a lengthy and somewhat unexpected discussion of the 2012 farm bill. Read More...

If Congress needs to take up trade adjustment assistance for American workers to pass the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, members should do it, five farm leaders said Tuesday. Read More...

Congress should pass the South Korean, Colombian and Panamanian free trade agreements and reauthorize trade adjustment assistance for American workers, a bipartisan coalition of governors from 20 states and two territories wrote congressional leaders on Monday. Read More...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., enthusiastically endorsed the U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia today, but he and Obama administration officials signaled that Colombia will have to prove its commitment to labor rights and Congress will have to agree to reauthorize trade adjustment assistance for American workers before it will be approved. Read More...

The Obama administration is moving forward to gain congressional approval of the three pending trade agreements, expects Congress to renew trade adjustment assistance for workers who have lost jobs due to free trade, and has granted $1 million to the U.S. Meat Export Federation to encourage meat exports to Korea, according to a memo from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative today. Read More...

Obama administration officials have begun discussions with congressional leaders on how to gain approval of the three pending free trade agreements — Korea, Colombia and Panama — as well as achieve the administration’s other trade goals, senior officials told reporters in a conference call today. Read More...

The Obama administration announced today that U.S. negotiators have reached agreement with the Colombian government on a free trade agreement that should boost farm exports, but there are still questions about the conditions under which the administration will send it to Congress for approval. Read More...