As part of USTR's Open Government Flagship Initiative, USTR.gov has been collecting comments and questions from the American public to be answered this week regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. USTR thanks all those who have sent in questions and comments. The comments have been passed along to the TPP negotiators.
Today's question is from Dominic in Pennsylvania:
“Our Port does a lot of business with Colombia. Colombia is certainly more, "like minded" with the U.S. than, say, Vietnam. Can we include Colombia in the TPP?”
USTR: "Thank you for your interest and support for our trade relations with Colombia. Colombia is a significant hemispheric trading partner which is an ally of the United States in a number of important areas. We anticipate expanding the TPP to include additional economies in the Asia Pacific region. However, the current TPP members have decided to focus initial expansion of the group on APEC member economies, of which Colombia is not one at this time. Meanwhile, the Administration is working hard to address concerns regarding the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which holds significant potential to expand U.S.-Colombia trade."
