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US-Andean countries

In May 2004, the US began negotiations with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to reach some form of FTA with the three Andean countries — and later, if US plans worked out, Bolivia as well.

According to initial media reports, “There are three different scenarios under discussion about how to structure the free trade agreement with the US. The first would be one plurilateral agreement between the four countries. The second would be individual bilateral agreements between the US and each of the three Andean countries. The third would be an agreement between the three Andean Community of Nations (CAN) members, who have obligations within CAN, and the US. The US prefers the arrangement used in the CAFTA agreement, i.e. one plurilateral agreement among all parties. This option is not viable through CAN because not all CAN members are involved in this FTA process with the US. Therefore, according to the head of the Colombian delegation, what may emerge is a plurilateral agreement between the US and a special bloc comprising Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.“

Since then, a number of special tensions have marked these FTA discussions. One is that the Andean countries have been reluctant to go beyond their WTO obligations in terms of intellectual property rights. The governments have kept expressing strong concerns about biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and access to medicines. Another overwhelming concern has been with regard to agriculture, where the Andean countries are reluctant to liberalize their markets on bilateral terms if the US will not agree to reduce domestic subsidies. An underlying concern has been how the FTA would interact with Andean Community law; that is, which of the two would take precedence.
Regarding the US side, Washington’s lack of flexibility has been pointed out by many as a hallmark of the process. For that reason, many people refuse to call these “negotiations“.

Indigenous peoples, farmers’ organizations, labour unions, and other social movements have been heavily mobilizing to stop this FTA. The FTA has been seen from the start as a thorough capitulation to US economic and geopolitical interests. In Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, different sectors have pushed for national referenda on the FTA in their respective countries — and on several occasions organized their own.

In late September 2005, the US issued an ultimatum to sign an agreement by 20 November 2005 — before the 2006 electoral process in all three Andean countries and the mid-2007 expiry of Bush’s “fast track“ trade negotiating authority. No agreement was reached by end November, with Colombia and Ecuador holding back on several grounds and Peru saying it would proceed alone.

Since Peru signed a bilateral trade deal with the US in December 2005 and bilateral negotiations continuing with Colombia as of that date (until the US-Colombia deal came into force in March 2012), information on subsequent events is presented separately under US-Peru and US-Colombia.

As to Ecuador, Quito’s cancellation of a contract with Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) in May 2006 sounded the death knell for negotiations around a US-Ecuador FTA. With this decision, the government of Ecuador obeyed its law and the demands of the majority of Ecuadorans, who had been calling for an end to the negotiations and for Oxy’s departure.

last update: May 2012


Anti-FTA protest in Ecuador
Workers unions, social, political and student movements are concluding this Tuesday preparations for national strike against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Ecuador ready to butt US FTA
The Ecuadorian government’s aspirations to wrap up the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US by the end of March, are stirring up Thursday grassroots organizations against that deal.
Ecuador-US FTA hinges on farming
Ecuadorian Foreign Affaire Minister Jorge Illingworth asserted that a Free Trade Agreement with the US would basically depend on a favorable agriculture deal.
Ecuador students join anti-FTA protests
University students are taking to the streets Wednesday to demand expiration of the contract with Oxy US oil company and spurn the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Washington.
Ecuadorian universities to discuss FTA
Ecuadorean universities will hold consultations on the advisability to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the US, president of the National Council on Higher Education (CONESUP) Vinicio Baquero confirmed.
Present capacity and future development of the Andean struggle against the FTA
The region-wide campaign against the US-Andean free trade agreement (FTA) made important, if partial, achievements in 2005. The FTA negotiation has been delayed thanks to social pressure, but it has not been stopped.
Ecuador espera cerrar TLC con EEUU en febrero
Ecuador tiene "buenas posibilidades" de cerrar un tratado de libre comercio con Estados Unidos cuando reanude el diálogo en febrero, pero tampoco tiene prisa y no adoptará a ciegas los modelos de Colombia y Perú, dijo el viernes el principal negociador ecuatoriano Manuel Chiriboga.
Ecuador-Colomb-US resume FTA talks
Ecuador, along with Colombia, is reopening Wednesday in Washington joint negotiation over the copyright issue in the Free Trade Agreement with the US, despite growing refusal in Quito.
Morales not opposed to US trade deal
Backing away from his tough campaign talk against US-sponsored trade initiatives, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales said Friday he no longer rules out a free-trade deal with the United States and three other Andean nations. But he did not say he supported such a deal, either.
Clashes lead to chaos in Ecuador
Students and police have clashed again in Ecuador, as protests against a possible rise in bus fares entered a second week. The students also want the government to cancel its contract with the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and for it to refuse to join the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.