New trade deal
I’ve taken a fair number of potshots at the administration for its flirtations with protectionism. It would be churlish (my word of the day) not to congratulate them on negotiating a Central American Free Trade Agreement. According to the Financial Times: The agreement with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala will eliminate all tariffs on ...
I've taken a fair number of potshots at the administration for its flirtations with protectionism. It would be churlish (my word of the day) not to congratulate them on negotiating a Central American Free Trade Agreement. According to the Financial Times:
I’ve taken a fair number of potshots at the administration for its flirtations with protectionism. It would be churlish (my word of the day) not to congratulate them on negotiating a Central American Free Trade Agreement. According to the Financial Times:
The agreement with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala will eliminate all tariffs on industrial goods over a decade, and will gradually phase out protection of agricultural products over the next 20 years. It will also force the Central American countries to deregulate most sectors of their economies and adopt strong protection for US patents, trademarks and copyrights…. Costa Rica, which has the largest economy in the region and is the biggest market for US exporters, refused to conclude the negotiations because of US demands that it liberalise its monopoly telecommunications and insurance sectors. Mr Zoellick said the US was prepared to resume talks with Costa Rica next month and hoped it would make the needed concessions to become part of the agreement.
If Lloyd Gruber’s hypothesis in Ruling the World is true, you have to conclude that Costa Rica will accede to the agreement. Ratification looks to be a fun fight.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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