WASHINGTON – U.S.
Trade Representative Rob Portman and Peruvian
Minister of Foreign Trade and
Tourism Alfredo Ferrero Diez
Canseco
today signed the United States – Peru Trade Promotion
Agreement
(PTPA),
a comprehensive agreement that will
eliminate tariffs
and other barriers
to goods and services and
expand trade between the
two nations.
Peruvian
President Alejandro Toledo was present
to witness the signing.
"Signing this agreement today confirms the strong ties between the people of
Peru and the United States,"
said Ambassador Portman.
"This all-inclusive
agreement will promote
increased
economic
activity and commercial prosperity for
both of our
nations.
PTPA will spur new export opportunities for U.S.
businesses,
manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers,
expand choices for consumers
and
will help create jobs in the
United States. For Peru, this
agreement will
significantly
increase opportunities for economic growth
and serve as a
catalyst
to further develop and modernize their
own
economy."
"This agreement with Peru is instrumental in our strategy to advance
prosperity within our hemisphere," Portman continued. "We hope to bring
Colombia
and Ecuador into this agreement as soon as
they are
ready so
no one misses out
on the benefits
of trade. We look
forward to
continuing to build bipartisan
support for the U.S.
– Peru Trade
Promotion Agreement
in both houses of Congress in order to
quickly
approve this high-quality pact," said Portman.
Upon implementation of this agreement, eighty percent of consumer and
industrial products and more than two-thirds of current U.S. farm
exports to
Peru will become duty-free immediately. Over the
coming
years, Peru will
continue to provide
substantial market
access to U.S.
goods, services and
agricultural products by
gradually eliminating all
tariffs on U.S. exports to
Peru. The
agreement will
also provide a
secure, predictable legal framework for
U.S.
investors operating in
Peru, provide for enforcement of
quality labor and
environmental
standards, protect
intellectual property rights, and install an
effective dispute
settlement process. This is the
second free trade
agreement
that includes an
innovative public submissions process that
will allow members
of the public to raise concerns if they
believe that
a Party is failing to
effectively enforce its
environmental laws.
In 2005, U.S. goods exports to Peru totaled nearly $2.3 billion. Two way
trade between the U.S. and Peru during 2005 amounted to $7.4 billion.
As a
result of this agreement, the United States will have
greater
access to the
Peruvian market for products
such as
machinery, mineral
fuel, electrical
machinery
and plastics,
along with meats and poultry,
grains, oilseeds,
dairy
products, horticulture, processed products, and
other
agricultural products.
Many products from Peru already enter the U.S. market duty-free under the
Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), which expires in 2006. This new
agreement
helps Peru in a number of ways including expanding
ATPA and
locking in duty free
status for Peru.
Building on
ATPA, duty-free
treatment can now be a two-way
street.
BACKGROUND
In May 2004, the United States initiated negotiations with three Andean
nations – Peru,
Colombia and Ecuador. Talks with Peru
concluded on December 7, 2005 and
negotiations with Colombia
concluded
on February 27, 2006. Discussions are
ongoing with
Ecuador. Bolivia has
participated as an
observer and could become
part of the agreement at a
later
stage.
The United States has significant economic ties to the region. Total two-way
goods trade with the Andean countries of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador was
approximately $29.4 in 2005. The countries comprised
an
important
market for
U.S. goods exports totaling
$9.7 billion
in 2005. Leading
exports included
machinery, organic
chemicals, plastics and cereals.
U.S. exports of agricultural
products to Peru,
Colombia and Ecuador
totaled $1.0 billion.
Leading exports
included wheat, coarse grains,
cotton and
soybeans.
Goods imports from Peru,
Colombia and Ecuador
totaled
$19.7 billion in 2005. The stock of U.S. foreign
direct
investment in these countries in 2004 was $7.7
billion.
U.S. Trade Agenda
The United States is working to open markets globally in the Doha WTO
negotiations; regionally through the APEC forum and the Free Trade Area
of the
Americas (FTAA) negotiations; and bilaterally
with
FTAs. Since
2001, FTAs with
Australia, Chile,
Jordan, Morocco,
Singapore, El
Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua have entered
into force. The Bush
Administration has also concluded
negotiations with
Bahrain, Costa
Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Oman,
Peru and Colombia.
Negotiations are under way
or
about to begin with eleven more
countries: Ecuador, Panama,
Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand,
the five
nations of
the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the
United Arab
Emirates. New and pending FTA partners,
taken together,
would
constitute
America’s third
largest export market and the third
largest economy in the
world.
