ISDS Case Map
Andean countries
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a 10-month extension of a trade program aimed at promoting imports from four Andean nations and thus discouraging the cultivation and production of illegal drugs.
A US House panel on Thursday approved a 10-month extension for a trade program providing reduced tariffs for exports from the four Andean nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on a plan to extend trade preferences for Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia for eight months.
U.S. lawmakers have begun talks on whether to extend a 15-year-old trade preference program for Andean countries while free trade deals with Colombia and Peru remain up in the air, congressional aides said on Wednesday.
The Bush administration hopes to reach a deal with U.S. lawmakers in the next 10 days that would pave the way for approval of free trade pacts with Peru, Colombia and Panama, a top U.S. trade official said on Wednesday.
The Bush administration has a prescription for fighting coca growing, sidelining Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saving thousands of jobs in Latin America: extending free trade for Andean nations.
Within days of taking office, Peruvian President Alan García named economist Hernando de Soto -- a man he calls ''the most prestigious Peruvian'' -- as his chief lobbyist to push a free trade agreement through the U.S. Congress.
US free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia, as well as the possible agreement with Ecuador, were negotiated under the promise of great opportunities in the world's richest market, but the truth is that these agreements will have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of small farmers, public health, and the regulation of investment to protect the public interest.
The foreign ministers of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) forged ahead in attempts to quiet fears of an imminent collapse of the bloc following Venezuela's withdrawal, despite member-country political differences that were all too evident at the regional summit.
Andean leaders have agreed a new course for their trade bloc without Venezuela. They plan to urge Washington to extend expiring trade benefits designed to help counter cocaine production in the South American region.
