Panama - USA FTA Goes to Congress

The U.S. President has sent the Free Trade Agreement negotiated in 2003 with Panama to Congress for ratification.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Along with the FTA with Panama Congress will also receive ratification requests for FTAs with Colombia and Korea.

Mario Jaramillo, Ambassador of Panama in Washington, inidcated that they have the necessary votes for approval in Congress and a vote is expected "very promptly."

Prensa.com quotes the Ambassador as saying: "I think in the House of Representatives we could have 290 [out of 435] votes and in the Senate over 70 [out of 100]."

¿Busca soluciones de inteligencia comercial para su empresa?



More on this topic

Obama Signs TPC with Panama

October 2011

By signing the TPC the American president has given the green light to an agreement that has taken almost five years to be ratified by Congress.

Along with the treaty with Panama the president also signed agreements with Colombia and South Korea.

According to an article Prensa.com: "Initially, the president had planned to make public statements during a reception at the White House in the Rose Garden which adjoins the presidential office and to which businessmen, trade unionists and workers, whom the government deemed "beneficiaries" of the TPC were invited."

Real Progress for FTA Between U.S. and Panama

October 2011

The FTA jumped the first hurdle in the U.S. Congress, having been approved by the committee in the first round with 32 votes in favor and only 2 against.

The Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives yesterday approved the U.S. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, with 24 votes in favor and 12 against in the case of the South American country, 31 against 5 in the case of the Asians, and 32-2 for the Central American country.

U.S. FTAs with Colombia and Panama Have a Long Way to Go

May 2010

In the U.S., the political situation is not favorable for approving these Free Trade Agreements, despite Barack’s Obama goodwill.

This was affirmed by State Secretary Hillary Clinton, while meeting with regional leaders at the 40th Conference of the Americas Council. She did reinstate her country’s commitment to free trade.

Panama: Optimistic that the FTA with the US will be ratified

December 2008

Panama is waiting for the United States to ratify the FTA that both countries negotiated and which has already been approved by the Panama National Assembly.

We continue to work and lobby Congress and more specifically the Democratic Congressmen because they are the ones who are most opposed to the agreement, the Panamanian ambassador in Washington, Frederico Humbert, reported.

ok