- Negotiations
Separate from the US-Dominican Republic-Central America free trade agreement (DR-CAFTA), the US is negotiating a bilateral deal with Panama. The process started in April 2004 and a text was finally agreed to in December 2006. The process has drawn active and strong opposition from many sectors in Panama, from school teachers to cattle ranchers. Meat trade between the two countries was a key sticking point, with Panama long resisting Washington’s demands to accept US sanitary standards as its own. The text of the final agreement on food safety (SPS) shows that the Panamanian government completely gave in.
In October 2011, the US Congress ratified the FTA and on 10 November both governments began the formal process to secure its entry into force by October 2012.
last update: Mayl 2012
Photo: Beneton26 / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
23-May-2008
Global Atlanta
“With the United States, our goal is to have a string of free-trading countries from Alaska down to the tip of Argentina and Chile, and Panama is obviously an important link in that chain,” US ambassador to Panama said.
7-May-2008
President George W. Bush said Tuesday he would do his best to get Congress to approve a pending free trade agreement with Panama, after meeting with its President Martin Torrijos in the White House.
2-Nov-2007
ITC
A report from the US International Trade Commission (September 2007)
11-Oct-2007
LA Times
Washington officials say that even if Gonzalez — the president of Panama’s National Assembly, who is wanted on murder charges in the US — were to quit, attitudes in Congress and in the Bush administration have hardened against the free trade deal.
13-Sep-2007
Prensa Latina
The US is stepping up pressure to remove the president of Panama’s National Assembly, who it claims killed a US marine, so that the case will not block passage of the US-Panama FTA.
8-Sep-2007
The Hill
Advocates of a US-Panama free trade deal have a new headache: Panama has just elected an official wanted for arrest in the U.S. for allegedly killing an American soldier.
6-Sep-2007
AlterNet
The pending US trade agreement with Panama isn’t really about trade. It’s about foreign investor rights, money laundering, and tax dodging.
12-Jul-2007
News Channel 7
Panama’s legislature ratified a free trade agreement with the United States on Wednesday amid protests by hundreds of leftists and farmers opposed to the deal.
29-Jun-2007
Prensa Latina
Groups of students, professionals, and unions in Panama are protesting the signing Thursday of a free trade agreement with the US, for considering it an affront to the country s sovereignty and dignity.
29-Jun-2007
ABC News
The United States and Panama signed a free trade agreement on Thursday with only a few days to spare before key US legislation expires.
