The Columbia Free Trade Agreement

Obamassiah opposes the Columbia Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) despite standard economic theory which strongly argues that free trade tends to increase the size of the economic pie. See here for a classic chart that summarizes the case for removing tariffs. In stark contrast to Obamassiah, Bush wants the CFTA so bad that he will consider bailing out Detroit if only the Democrats would give him the CFTA.

Then why does Obamassiah bulk? You might suspect that the Onion is onto something in its claim that he wants to keep "America's shitty jobs from going overseas." But in this case, the proposed agreement may result in the loss of few American jobs, since Columbia already enjoys tariff-free export into the US on many products.

Probably the loudest argument coming from opponents of CFTA is that a trade agreement would somehow support or perpetuate violence in Columbia, particularly violence against the unionizing workers. Nowhere can I find a clear description of how this would work. Exactly how would lowering tariffs lead to greater violence? Other opponents say that the agreement would hurt small farmers in Columbia, but fail to get specific.

Tariffs hurt business. Before I support Obamassiah's oppression of business, I want to see a much clearer argument for why such oppression is necessary.