ISDS Case Map
Panama
The United States and Panama signed a free trade agreement on Thursday with only a few days to spare before key US legislation expires.
Presidents Manuel Zelaya, Honduras, and Martin Torrijos, Panama, will sign a free trade agreement in this capital on Friday, after bilateral negotiations that concluded last month in the Panamanian capital.
Caterpillar Inc vice president Tom Gales cited a major construction project the country is embarking on--the expansion of the Panama Canal--as one reason why the trade agreement is essential. The expansion is the world's largest public works project since the Three Gorges Dam was constructed in China.
When it comes to U.S. trade policy, in recent years it has seemed more difficult to gain bipartisan agreement among American policy-makers than to negotiate with foreign governments.
In testimony given Wednesday, May 16, before the United States International Trade Commission in Washington D.C., the Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) vice president with responsibility for Latin America emphasized why a Panama Trade Promotion Agreement will be remarkably beneficial for the U.S., Panama and the region.
Full text of the bipartisan trade deal reached between the US' Democrat-led Congress and the Bush Administration
As crunch time nears, Peru, Colombia and Panama have embarked on a nearly unprecedented lobbying effort to salvage their free-trade agreements with Washington.
Failure by the US Congress to approve free trade agreements with Latin American countries will have “huge political consequences” in the region, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez warned Monday.
At literally minutes to midnight on April 1, the United States signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korean negotiators and rushed it to Congress. Congress now has 90 days to review the Korea, Peru, Colombia, and Panama agreements, before fast track authority expires on June 30.
President George W. Bush notified Congress on Friday that he plans to sign a free trade agreement with Panama.
