Free Trade Agreements and Trade Policy

After years of unsuccessful efforts, opponents of more military aid to Colombia have succeeded in persuading Congress to change the balance of U.S. aid to the country.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe flew to Washington in early June to try again to persuade members of Congress to support a pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as well as another round of foreign aid (see page 1).  An earlier trip in May was unsuccessful on the trade issue when Colombia was excluded from a May 10 trade deal on Panama and Peru (page 1).

The World Trade Organization has agreed to take up a complaint filed by Ecuador late last year against the banana import trade rules imposed by the European Union (EU) at the beginning of 2006. The January 2006 rules set a single duty (tariff) of 176 euros per box of bananas imported into the EU from Latin America. Latin American governments have argued for a muchtariff of 75 Euros a ton. The new rules also set a quota for duty-free bananas that can be imported from former colonies duty-free.

Duty-free trade benefits provided to Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru under the Andean Trade Partnership Act (ATPA) are set to expire at the end of June. While the Bush Administration and key House Democrats back an extension for all four countries, some members of Congress have argued against any extension for countries that have not signed a trade agreement with the U.S. (i.e., Bolivia and Ecuador, whose presidents were elected in part due to their opposition to free trade).

Current trade benefits provided unilaterally by the U.S. to Andean countries under the Andean Trade Partnership Act (ATPA) could become a political football by mid-year.

Some Democratic leaders have been discussing compromises with Bush Administration officials that could lead to a vote on the FTA with Colombia as well as other pending trade agreements with Peru and P

January 2007: Citing poor labor provisions and the continuing situation of violence against trade unionists, Colombia's largest trade union centrals recently issued a letter to the United States Congress, denouncing the trade agreement between the two countries.

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.

The November congressional elections are expected to delay if not kill Congressional approval of more Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including an agreement with Colombia officially signed the day before Thanksgiving. Democratic leaders have stated that pending FTAs would have to be renegotiated to include enforceable worker rights conditions, which have been opposed by the Bush Administration.