ISDS Case Map
Andean countries
President Bush is starting to embrace a different political strategy for getting trade agreements through Congress: bipartisanship.
Andean countries in late November narrowed differences with the United States over intellectual property protections in negotiations over a US-Andean bilateral free trade agreement, but divisions over market access for agriculture have likely delayed a final agreement until next year, at least for Colombia and Ecuador.
Representatives of farmer organizations from Andean nations began a meeting in this capital on Monday to define actions and strategies to fight the free trade area with the United States (FTA).
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are turning the tables on U.S. trade negotiators accustomed to winning tough safeguards for drug patents by demanding similar protections for traditional therapies such as roots and leaves.
Democratic members of Congress and labor leaders say they want the Bush administration to move away from CAFTA's failed trade model or face another tough battle in Congress.
An apparently chance remark by a junior trade minister appears to have put Venezuela's Foreign Minister Alí Rodríguez Araque on something of a spot.
Minister of Integration and Foreign Trade Gustavo Márquez declared Tuesday that in the event that the parties to the Andean Community decide to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, Venezuela will have to revise trade arrangements with those nations.
Bitter partisanship is putting the United States' trade agenda in the Americas in serious jeopardy.
Ecuador's opposition to US demands on access to test data for clinical drug trials has emerged as a primary obstacle in the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) talks between the US and a group of three Andean countries.
Last year was the tenth anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and nearly all evaluations of the agreement conceded that the period showed negligible or negative results for Mexico. As the developing country partner of the agreement, Mexico's experience under NAFTA has major implications for other developing nations negotiating FTA's, particularly with the United States.
