Tratado de libre comercio Andino

U.S. Signs with Peru and Columbia

Overview

March 31, 2006

NOTE

This analysis is based on the preliminary text of the
U.S./Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, which is still in the
process of legal review, and on summaries of the U.S./Columbia
Trade Promotion Agreement. A more complete analysis will follow
when the preliminary text of the U.S./Columbia agreement becomes
available.

What is the
history of the U.S./Andean negotiations?

On November 18, 2003, the U.S. Trade Representative
officially notified Congress that it was initiating negotiations
for an Andean Free Trade Agreement with Columbia, Peru, Ecuador,
and Bolivia. Because of massive street demonstrations and civil
unrest about U.S. investment policy related to water services and
natural gas, Bolivia moved to "observer status" in the
negotiations in July 2005. On December 7, 2005, the United States
concluded a trade promotion agreement with Peru. This put
pressure on Columbia and Ecuador to sign similar agreements.
Columbia signed a deal on February 27, 2006. Negotiations
continue with the Ecuadorian trade ministry, which like Bolivia
on a smaller scale has faced political opposition to an agreement
with the United States in Congress and in the form of massive
civil unrest, particularly among indigenous peoples, which has
paralyzed transport and commerce in the highlands and threatened
to topple the regime of President Palacio.

The Andean FTA, at least in economic terms, is
potentially more significant than the recently ratified Dominican
Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).
According to USTR, "The four countries combined have a population
of about 93 million people and a GDP of about $463 billion on a
purchasing power parity basis."[1] But, as the
Carnegie Endowment reports," The Andean economies import only
$8.1 billion a year from the U.S., which is relatively little for
the size of their economies: the DR-CAFTA countries with half the
total Gross Domestic Product, import $12.6 billion annually from
the United States."[2] The economic importance of
protections for U.S. investors in the Andean FTA also is
potentially significant. According to USTR, "The stock of U.S.
foreign direct investment in the four countries was $4.5 billion
in 2002."[3] And, that investment could increase
substantially as U.S. firms explore and seek to extract the
valuable oil, natural gas, and minerals of the Andean region.
Among South American countries, Ecuador, for example, is already
the second largest supplier of oil for the United States, after
Venezuela.[4]

Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia currently enjoy
special access to export textiles and most other commodities into
the U.S. market under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA),
which is set to expire in December 2006. If they are to retain
this access to the U.S. market, the four Andean countries were
told by the United States that they must agree to a comprehensive
free trade agreement with the United States, reducing tariffs on
a broad range of U.S. products and services and providing
additional protection for U.S. investors. The United States has
sought, in particular, to:

Substantially increase market access for U.S.
agricultural goods;

Protect U.S. intellectual property rights in ways that
exceed World Trade Organization (WTO) standards;

Increase market access exports of services, such as
energy, water, infrastructure construction, and
telecommunications; and

Increase protection for the property and contract rights
of U.S. investors, particularly in oil, gas, minerals, and other
extractive industries.[5]

Traducción
[6]

Tratado de Libre Comercio Andino:

EEUU firma con Perú y Colombia

Marzo 31, 2006

NOTA

Este análisis esta basado en el texto preliminar
del Trade Promotion Agreement entre Perú y EEUU,
el cual está aún en proceso de una revisión
legal y así como los sumarios del texto con Colombia. Un
análisis mas completo se hará con el texto
preliminar del acuerdo entre Col y EEUU.

¿Cual es la Historia de las negociaciones de
EEUU con los andinos?

En noviembre 18 de 2003, el U.S. Trade
Representative oficialmente notificó al Congreso de
su país, que estaba iniciando negociaciones para un
Tratado de Libre comercio con Colombia, Perú, Ecuador y
Bolivia. Debido a las masivas protestas en Bolivia en contra de
la política de inversiones de EEUU en relación a
los servicios de agua y gas natural, Bolivia asumió el
estatus de "observador" en las negociaciones en julio de 2005. En
diciembre 7 de 2005, EEUU concluyó el TLC con Perú.
Esto presionó a Colombia y Ecuador a firmar acuerdos
similares; Colombia lo hizo en febrero 27 de 2006. Las
negociaciones continúan con Ecuador, país que como
Bolivia, pero en una escala menor, ha enfrentado oposición
política a través de marchas masivas de
oposición indígena, que han paralizado el
transporte y el comercio en las tierras altas amenazando incluso
con derribar el régimen de Presidente Palacio.