MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Second thoughts about TPA

Latinamerican countries are having second thoughts about the recent approval in the US House of Representatives of the Trade Promotion Authoriy, TPA, the successor of the defunct "fast track", and which should enable the Bush administration to negotiate trade agreements with other countries and blocks. US Senate is expected to debate the bill, --which barely made it through the lower House (215 against 214)--, after the end of the New Year recess. But with the US economy in recession and unemployment in the rise prospects are not encouraging, since the bill severely limits the areas of possible negotiation.. And Latinamerica is not at all pleased with the controversial conditions tied to the TPA approval. An additional annex indicates that negotiations must include the elimination of textile export tariff preferences for Central America, Caribbean and the Andean Pact; 293 agricultural commodities considered "sensible" including sugar, certain types of meat, citrus, have been specifically left out of any possible agreement; US anti dumping legislation is out of any discussion, and finally the Bush administration must report Congress on the "labour and social standards" of future US trade partners. TPA is expected to help President Bush with the coming negotiations in the World Trade Organization, the Americas Free Trade Association, AFTA, and possible bilateral agreements with Chile and Singapur. However, Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso was emphatic, "if the United States insists with these restrictions, there's no AFTA possible".