The FTA's Winners and Losers

The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement went into affect yesterday, and quite dramatically, with protests and a deadly terrorist bombing in north Bogotá.

The agreement's economic impacts will be slower, but perhaps almost as dramatic. 

Among the winners will likely be:

Colombian flower growers and producers, altho they already benefit from temporary free trade rules.

Colombian coffee producers.

Also, Colombian producers of ethanol, exotic fruits, dairy and meat.

Car buyers will also save, as cheaper vehicles flood the country...

...which will compound traffic jams across Bogotá, and worsen air pollution, unless the government takes strong measures fast. So, most likely, most of us will suffer from increased car ownership.

And 70% of Colombian peasants will lose income as subsidized, mass-produced U.S. grains come flowing in, according to a recent study by Oxfam and other NGOs. Many of those peasants, undoubtedly, will turn to planting illegal drug crops.

Cheaper grains will hopefully mean cheaper bread and arepas - but also cheaper hamburgers, hot-dogs and corn sweeteners, which are already doing so much harm to Colombians' health.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours