SUBREGIONAL/OFFICES

ECLAC Monitors United States Trade

The ECLAC Washington Office report United States - Latin America and the Caribbean Trade Developments 2008-2009 provides an overview of the most relevant developments in United States trade relations with the region during 2009 and the measures that inhibit the free flow of goods among countries in the Western Hemisphere.

The report highlights the passage of the Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 by the House of Representatives in June, legislative changes in trade and travel with Cuba, and the government’s decision to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) negotiations as a way of engaging with the region. TPP negotiations include Singapore, Australia, Peru, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei. Vietnam would participate as an observer.

Action on the pending bilateral free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea took the back seat in 2009, as did the intended reform of the U.S. trade preferences programmes.

Although the 31 December 2009 expiration of the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programmes was seen as an opportunity to review and reform U.S. trade preferences programmes, a one year extension was approved by Congress on 22 December 2009. The reforms will likely take place sometime in the near future.

The reform is intended to harmonize all U.S. preferences programmes, extend benefits to all least developed countries (LDCs), and graduate from the programme the most advanced developing countries. A bill laying out some of the potential reforms was introduced to the Senate Committee of Finance and Trade at the end of November.

With respect to market access and trade inhibiting measures, the 2009 report looks at the dispute over U.S.-Mexico cross border trucking, as well as selected WTO cases covering issues such as U.S. regulation on Country of Origin Labeling, the U.S. dispute with Brazil over cotton and U.S. agricultural support programmes, among others.