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Economy | 1 August, 2006 [ 16:37 ]

US Senate Committee Approves Free-Trade Legislation for Peru

The US Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of the free-trade agreement with Peru in a procedural vote last Friday.

In a "mock'' vote meant to gauge support, the panel voted 12-7 for the agreement, however lawmakers are allowed to offer amendments for the administration to consider before the agreement is formally submitted. Once introduced, rules of Congress require lawmakers to approve or reject it without amendments.

A full Senate vote is likely in September, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said last week.

The Committee's leading Democrat Max Baucus (D-Montana) stated in an official press release:

"The markup comes at a particularly critical time. With the collapse of the Doha Round, the time has come for an important change in focus. If we cannot make progress with trading partners in the World Trade Organization, then we should look to trading partners – like Peru – that are willing to move forward with us in agriculture, industrial products, services, and other areas".

"This agreement has great potential. For agriculture producers, the Peru agreement is one of the best trade agreements that the U.S. Trade Representative has negotiated. It immediately eliminates tariffs on roughly two-thirds of current U.S. agriculture exports (..) It also treats sugar in an appropriately sensitive way, and in this respect serves as a model for future trade agreements.
Nevertheless, Members have significant concerns about this agreement. We must address them.
On beef, Peru must abide by the commitments that it made to open its market to U.S. beef. I am pleased that Peru has made progress since our hearing last month (..) but has fallen short of its promises. Peru still bans all forms of U.S. beef from cattle more than 30 months of age. It is hard to contemplate approving an agreement when our trading partner has already proven itself unwilling to live up to trade commitments it has made.

On labor, the buck may stop with Peru. Peru has made great strides to address concerns that have been expressed about its labor regime. But it has become more difficult for Senators to understand why the labor chapter alone remains static even when our trading partner is willing to go further.
I hope that we can work together to address these concerns and reach a point where the Peru agreement can attract broader support on this Committee and in the Congress. "

The "Ways and Means Committee" of US Congress earlier approved the treaty 23-13 during its "mock markup". All the Democrats except one, John Tanner of Tennessee, opposed the measure. The committee also voted down amendments offered by Democrats intended to change provisions over labor rights, port security and environmental standards.

read also:

Vietnam WTO Accession, Peru Trade Agreement, Advance in Senate (USINFO.STATE.GOV)

tags : Peru economy free-trade USA FTA USSenate Baucus business import export

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1 Comment

# Italo says :
2 August, 2006 [ 16:29 ]

for your records

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