The election of Rafael Correa in Ecuador's November 26th run-off for president may have sounded the death knell for a free trade agreement (FTA) between Ecuador and the U.S. Correa, who defeated Alvaro Noboa, Ecuador's richest man and largest flower exporter, ran on a platform that included a rejection of the proposed FTA.
The election of an opponent of the FTA also raised questions whether the United States would extend expiring trade benefits to Ecuador, with some opponents arguing that unilateral trade benefits should no longer be provided if the country is unwilling to negotiate a multilateral FTA. Paradoxically, the absence of any FTA negotiations with Ecuador would lessen U.S. leverage for labor law reform, which the Ecuadorian trade union movement, USLEAP, Human Rights Watch, and the AFL-CIO have pushed for the past four years.