The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to extend trade benefits for several South American states.The program under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) for Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru and had been set to expire at the end of this month. Yet the one year extension by the House will continue a plan enacted in 1991 that “provides duty-free treatment” to the aforementioned countries.
Bolivia was under the ATPA program yet the White House removed that country from the list in part due to “"explicit acceptance and encouragement of coca production.” Ecuador avoided a similar fate though not without some conditions:
The extension requires the U.S. Trade Representative's Office to report by June 30 on whether the three remaining Andean countries are complying with program criteria.Image- Living In Peru (The Peruvian port of Callao).
That language is aimed primarily at Ecuador, which is accused by some in the United States of having a corrupt government and biased judiciary and of failing to honor contracts.
U.S. oil company, Chevron Corp (CVX.N), has accused Ecuador of breaching a bilateral investment treaty with the United States by not forcing an Ecuadorean court to dismiss a $27 billion environmental lawsuit against the company.
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Forbes.com, AP, Reuters
2 comments:
for ecuador its quite a success, given that a number of corporations were against the extension for ecuador.
originally, this trade program was designed as an incentive for enforcing anti drug policies
surprisingly, they don't talk about that purpose anymore: they talk on business of corporations.
Wow, it seems that your decision is getting a lot of support from the community.
study abroad
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