Shippers hope Congress signs off on U.S.-Panama free trade agreement

Shippers hope Congress signs off on U.S.-Panama free trade agreement U.S. shippers want Congress to sign off on the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement before the July 4 recess.
   “This is an important deal for us,” said Bill Lane, director of government affairs for Caterpillar, during a National Foreign Trade Council luncheon in Washington on May 25.
   Caterpillar and other U.S. equipment manufacturers can expect to gain immediate duty-free access to the Panamanian market upon ratification of the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement.
   Lane said the timing for the agreement couldn’t be better for companies such as Caterpillar, especially with start of the Panama Canal expansion. In October 2006, Panama voted on a referendum to expand the canal. The multibillion-dollar project is slated for completion in 2014.
   More than 88 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial exports will become duty free in Panama once the free trade agreement is ratified. An additional 4 percent will be duty free within five years. All remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 10 years.
   Trade is already strong between the United States and Panama. In 2005, bilateral trade between the countries reached $2.5 billion, with $1.8 billion coming from U.S. exports.
   R. Scott Miller, director of global trade policy for Procter & Gamble, expects consumer products companies to benefit from the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement. “Improvements to the lives of the people (of Panama) make a contribution to our company’s bottom line,” Miller said.
   With labor and environmental protection provisions added to the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement, Panamanian Ambassador Federico Humbert Arias said he’s hopeful the agreement will pass both Congress and the Panama’s legislature by July. Arias and his staff have met with key committees in the U.S. House and Senate to gain support for the trade agreement’s ratification.
   Arias told reporters that he believes there’s sufficient bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement to be approved. “There’s no reason to halt this,” he said.