Enterprise Diplomacy: Colombia FTA Case Study

Enterprise Diplomacy seeks to leverage innovation, private enterprise, and economic collaboration to advance American leadership and achieve diplomatic objectives. The growth of international trade has been one of the most important economic developments in modern times. It has improved the standard of living for countless people, brought products within reach of everyday consumers, and in many developing countries, has helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty.

The Joseph B. Gildenhorn Fellowship in Enterprise Diplomacy seeks to address these issues. Enterprise Diplomacy and trade has helped bring stability, security, and strengthen economic opportunities. One important case study to analyze is the US–Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which was signed on November 22, 2006 and entered into force on May 15, 2012. Thanks to this agreement, US goods and services trade with Colombia totaled an estimated $53.5 billion in 2022 and United States had a services trade surplus of an estimated $1.5 billion with Colombia in 2022.

Join us for a conversation on the importance of Enterprise Diplomacy and the role trade can place to reinvigorate our partnerships within the Western Hemisphere with our Joseph Gildenhorn Fellow former Senator Roy Blunt, former Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco, and Chair of the Wilson Center’s Ivan Duque Center for Prosperity and Freedom, President Iván Duque.