Ecuador Free Trade Agreement

Negotiations for a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Ecuador ended with the election in November 2006 of a new president in Ecuador who ran on a platform that included opposition to an agreement.  Negotiations had previously been suspended by the U.S. in protest over Ecuador’s cancellation of a contract with a U.S. oil company, Occidental Petroleum.  

USLEAP is opposed to considering a trade agreement with Ecuador until it reforms its labor law to ensure that workers are permitted to organize, the position taken by the Ecuadorian trade union movement.  USLEAP, Human Rights Watch, and the AFL-CIO have worker rights petitions pending before the U.S. Trade Representative that document the need for labor law reform.