CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR FTAA

CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR FTAA    Industry leaders asked Congress to get behind the nation’s effort to push forward the development of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
   The FTAA encompasses 34 nations throughout North America, South and Central America, the Caribbean. The agreement promotes the elimination of existing tariff and non-tariff barriers and bars the creation of new ones, as well as numerous other trade harmonization objectives.
   James Fendell, president of Aerocasillas — Aeropost and president of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, told Senate International Trade Subcommittee members on May 13 the “day is not far distant when the United States will trade more with our neighbors here in the Western Hemisphere than with Asia and Europe — combined.”
   Fendell also warned lawmakers that the United States must become more active in developing trade agreements or risk falling behind the rest of the world’s industrial powers.
   More than 130 regional trade agreements are in force worldwide. The European Union, Canada, Mexico and other countries have signed dozens of free trade agreements in the past 10 years, while the United States has only concluded agreements with Canada, Mexico, Israel and Jordan.
   “This pattern of diminished U.S. participation in trade liberalization must not continue,” Fendell said. “The spider web of free trade agreements that we’ve seen emerging around the world has already put U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage in key markets — especially in Latin America.”
   “In the end, U.S. business is quite capable of competing and winning against anyone in the world when markets are open and the playing field is level,” he added. “All we are asking for is the chance to get in the game.”
   The next FTAA Ministerial is scheduled for November in Miami. The agreement is due for completion by January 2005.