New York Times Op-Ed contributor Nicholas D. Kristof uses Norma Reynosa, a Colombian flower farm employee, to make a case for the renewal of the U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia.

In his April 24 Op-Ed column, Kristof writes that Reynosa and her family had been victims of the brutal warfare that plagued her home town in the South, which they fled in June 2005 to the outskirts of Medellin, where she now works on a flower farm. Kristof attributes the relative safety of Colombian cities like Medellin, which were "the most dangerous cities in the world in the 1980s and 90s," to the floral industry, which gave people like Reynosa a place to work and live.

Pointing out that Colombia is second to the Netherlands in flower exports, and that as many as 28 cargo planes bring flowers to the U.S. daily, he asks, "Better carnations than cocaine, no?"

Permanent duty-free status for Colombian floral imports is on hold until the U.S. House of Representatives considers the U.S./Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) — which it has put on hold, indefinitely.

About 60 percent of flowers sold in the U.S. come from Colombia, and they enjoy duty-free access to U.S. markets under the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). That act is set to expire Dec. 31, 2008. If it is not renewed, or if the U.S./Colombia FTA is not ratified, U.S. importers of record will begin paying duties on Colombian flowers.

--Kate F. Penn
kpenn@safnow.org

 

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