Question: What does Senator Clinton’s former chief campaign strategist know that she does not want to admit? Answer: Free trade is good for the American economy.

Mark Penn was asked to step down from his position by Mrs. Clinton after he met with the ambassador of Colombia, Carolina Barco Isakson. Before also being fired by the Colombian government, they paid him to advise on a strategy to pass the Colombia free trade agreement, submitted to Congress by President Bush yesterday.

Mrs. Clinton wanted Mr. Penn gone because the union vote is crucial in Pennsylvania’s upcoming primary. The executive director of the union coalition Change to Win, Greg Tarpinian, requested that Mr. Penn be fired according to the letter he sent on behalf of Change to Win on April 5. In that letter, he wrote, “Mr. Penn was not simply meeting with the government of Colombia, he was advising them on how to pass an anti-worker trade agreement.”

The popular perception is that a trade agreement with Colombia would result in Colombian goods coming into the country, displacing American products and workers. Wrong. Most Colombian products, $9.2 billion in 2007, already pay no tariffs to enter America under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, enacted in 1991 and renewed again this year with Mrs. Clinton’s support. Yet American products, valued at $8.6 billion in 2007, pay substantial tariffs to enter Colombia. That’s not fair trade. American exporters and workers would be the main beneficiaries of the trade agreement, which would put U.S. and Colombian exports on a level playing field.

The agreement, signed in November 2006 and amended in June 2007, would open up duty-free markets between America and Colombia. Colombia wants the treaty to give more stability to its trade with the U.S. and gain more investment from American firms.

At the insistence of the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, the pact was rewritten to incorporate Colombia’s obligation to enforce the United Nation’s International Labour Organization’s five “fundamental labor rights.”

They are freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of compulsory labor, the abolition of child labor, and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation. In addition, Colombia raised its minimum wage and adopted provisions for overtime pay. Although unions originally demanded added worker protections as a condition for supporting the agreement, those protections are now apparently insufficient.

On Monday AFL-CIO President John Sweeney declared, “The AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Colombia in opposition to violence against trade unionists. We stand for the rights of workers in both Colombia and the United States to organize and bargain collectively without fear of firing, retribution or bodily harm. The AFL-CIO is strongly opposed to the Colombia FTA and will mobilize with all of our might to defeat it.”

Mr. Sweeney now uses alleged homicides of Colombian union members as an excuse for voting against the agreement, even though murders have declined under the president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. Violence in Colombia is deplorable, but it is no reason to oppose a trade agreement that would lead to more jobs and higher standards of living in both countries.

In order for the agreement to become a law, Congress must pass it. Under previously-negotiated fast-track authority, which has since expired but is still in effect for this pact, the Colombia trade agreement has to go to the floor of Congress for a vote within 90 days, with no delaying tactics. No filibusters, no hidden holds from disgruntled senators, none of the usual tricks that members of Congress use to stall a bill that they don’t like. If the pact wins a simple majority in the House and in the Senate, it becomes law.

Most goods exported from the U.S. to Colombia now face substantial tariffs, putting American companies and workers at a price disadvantage. Agricultural products, such as corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, pork, poultry, cheeses, and powdered milk, are generally subject to tariffs near or above 100%, but can be lowered if international prices rise. American cars face a duty of 35%. Many manufactured goods face a tariff of 10%, and consumer goods face tariffs of 15%-20%.

The free trade agreement would eliminate duties on most agricultural and processed food products. More than 80% of tariffs on U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products would be eliminated right away, with the remainder phased out over 10 years.

Going immediately to duty-free status would be construction equipment such as tractors and off-highway trucks, aircraft, auto parts, fertilizers, information technology equipment, medical and scientific equipment, and wood products. North American workers in these manufacturing lines are paid well.

According to an economics professor at Dartmouth, Andrew Bernard, almost 40% of American workers are employed by firms that engage in international trade. With our economy slowing and losing payroll jobs for three consecutive months, it’s important to make sure exports are growing. Congress should approve the Colombia Free Trade Agreement swiftly. Since Mr. Penn has extra time on his hands, perhaps he could advise Republican congressional leaders on strategies for a quick passage.

Ms. Furchtgott-Roth, dfr@hudson.org, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.