Last week, I wondered whether the president would keep his campaign promise about NAFTA. Today, Colombia is on my mind because of this piece in The Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama discussed a pending free-trade agreement with his Colombian counterpart Saturday and dispatched his trade representative to discuss U.S. concerns over Colombia’s treatment of labor leaders.

At the Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain, Mr. Obama asked to be seated next to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and the pair discussed the deal, U.S. officials said. During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama had voiced opposition to the pact, citing violence toward labor organizers in Colombia. The deal, which would allow free trade between the two nations, is awaiting ratification in the U.S. Senate and has already been approved by Colombia’s congress.

Since taking office, Mr. Obama has struck a more-positive tone on free trade than he often did during the campaign. He and aides have spoken out against protectionism, and in Mexico last week he declined to raise the question of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, despite a pledge to do so last year.

In October, then-Sen. Obama expressed deep concerns over the Colombian pact. "The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions," he said during a presidential debate. [emphasis added]

   In one respect, the president should be applauded for focusing on the treatment of labor leaders who have a nasty habit of ending up quite dead in Colombia. But, the bigger point is this: cleaning up assassinations is not going to magically make the so-called "free trade" deal with Colombia, or any country, a better thing. Oddly, the assassination issue is a gift to pro- so-called "free traders"–if you make the killings go away–or point to "progress" if the numbers go down (unfortunately, statistics do not offer much comfort to the union leader or activist, or his or her family, who gets gunned down in the future)–then, the path to passing the deal with Colombia is made easier.

   But, we must keep in mind that so-called "free trade" is a damaging policy in the bigger picture. It is not about "free trade," as I’ve said more times than I care to remember. It is simply about making rules that protect investment and capital, at the expense of workers, not to mention the environment. That does not go away when assassinations stop.