By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP)- The third anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Colombia free trade pact came and went this month with the Obama administration still negotiating the fine print, Congress showing little interest and business groups frustrated by the lack of action on trade deals.
''For most of 2009 we were willing to sit on our hands'' as the new president struggled with the recession and health care, said Bill Lane, a government affairs official for Caterpillar Inc.
''We can't maintain that anymore. It's time we started moving forward,'' said Lane, who is also corporate co-chairman of the Latin American Trade Coalition.
They say delays in implementing those pacts, under which those three countries would cut tariffs and remove barriers to U.S. goods and services, have cost the United States billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Lane said the United States has paid Colombia $2.3 billion in tariffs since the agreement was reached three years ago. A report prepared for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that 383,400 American jobs could be affected if the U.S. continues to do nothing while the European Union and Canada proceed with trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea.
''The U.S. risks getting stuck on the outside looking in,'' said John Murphy, the chamber's vice president for international affairs