While the rest of the nation may be experiencing an economic slow down, Lubbock and surrounding counties soon may be getting more bang for their buck.
President George W. Bush is trying to push a U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement through Congress.
As it stands now, Colombian imports into the United States enter the country duty free, which means there are no tariffs on them, whereas U.S. exports to Colombia face average tariffs of 14 percent, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Web site.
"Colombia enjoys nearly free access to our marketplace, while our access to theirs remains limited," according to the Web site. "This trade agreement will fix this imbalance by building a mutually beneficial, reciprocal trade partnership."
Local officials believe if the deal goes through, the positive results will be seen immediately.
"Absolutely. Absolutely it will have an effect on Lubbock," said Norma Ritz Johnson, vice president of legislative affairs for the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. "All the way around, the trade promotion levels the playing field."
The trade promotion does not have only local supporters. The Latin America Trade Coalition is made up of more than 700 U.S. businesses that have banded together in support of the promotion. Some of the more prominent businesses on the list include Abercrombie & Fitch, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Fox News Corporation, General Electric, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., IBM, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hormel Foods Corporation, Kraft Foods, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Verizon Communications.
If the agreement passes through Congress, the change to a duty-free two-way relationship will happen gradually.
"Immediately, half of those imports will go duty free," Ritz Johnson said. "What it would do is provide a permanent duty-free relationship between the U.S. and Colombia with textile and agricultural exports."
Lubbock-area businesses have closer ties to Colombia than one might think.
The American Cotton Growers Denim Mill in Littlefield is not only the largest producer of denim in the U.S., but it also does a majority of its business with Colombian textile mills.
"Colombia is important to us because a lot of American apparel companies use sewing and cutting operations in Colombia," said John Johnson, communications director with the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association. "A significant percentage of our denim production goes to Colombia."
Johnson said the denim mill currently operates under the Andean Trade Preference Act, which allows American produced denim manufactured in Colombia to re-enter the U.S. duty free.
"We need the Colombia FTA to replace that before it expires on Dec. 31," he said.
This also is a concern for the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance.
"If we don't get this free-trade agreement going, American companies are going to be paying a penalty," said Warren Warner, director of the foreign trade zone for LEDA.
Johnson said if the trade agreement does not go through, the effects could be detrimental to the Littlefield economy.
"We employ 650 people in Littlefield," he said. "That denim mill is very important to the community."
The trade agreement could affect more than the 650 direct employees of the mill, Johnson said, as this has the potential to affect more than 2,000 jobs in the economy. Also, if the mill were to run at full production year-round, enough cotton would be processed to make 28 million pairs of jeans.
"Every U.S. textile job supports three other jobs in the economy," he said. "When you do the math, we're talking about having an impact on up to 2,000 people if we lose our business with Colombia."
Johnson expressed concern that if the free-trade agreement does not take the place of the Andean Trade Preference Act, business could be hurt seriously for the mill.
"If we don't get the Colombian FTA, it's going to make business much harder - to say the least," he said.
Several officials agree Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi most likely will block any action on the bill until after the November elections.
Pelosi publicly has expressed she will do so in stories written by the Associated Press.
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