President Obama met with members of the House Trade Working Group at the White House yesterday to hear their concerns  the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Meanwhile,  promising developments have occurred with the other two nations with which the United States has pending free trade agreements – Panama and Colombia.

Panama and the United States came to agreement on a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), which is one of the outstanding issues that the Administration has indicated needed to be concluded before it would consider moving the U.S.-Panama FTA. Anything that can remove an impediment to a part of the stalled trade agenda is a very good thing.

Of course, over the last few months the business community’s focus has been squarely on the Administration’s discussions aimed at getting a final deal on the U.S.-Korea FTA. If those discussions over resolving the disputes over beef and autos are successful — and it is a shame they weren’t finalized in Seoul last week – that trade agreement could be sent to Congress early in 2011.  U.S. manufacturing exports to Korea are in the neighborhood of $25-30 billion annually over the last few years, and Korea has a manufacturing import sector worth $250 billion annually – so it’s a big deal.

During this same period, the Administration has been working closely with Panama, and with a successful TIEA, we could conceivably see (and we HOPE to see) movement on that trade agreement as well in 2011. Panama is engaged in the largest civil works project on earth right now (expanding the Panama Canal), and it would be fantastic for U.S. companies to be exporting duty-free the equipment, materials, engineering services and everything else this $5 billion project needs as soon as possible.

This leaves us with our last pending trade agreement – Colombia — and as the country’s new Ambassador Gabriel Silva recently told reporters, Colombia has been removed from the International Labor Organization’s watch list because of widespread improvements his government has made in controlling violence against labor activists. This goes to the heart of what the Administration and some Congressional Democrats have been asking for; Colombia is to be commended for its long commitment, under both previous President Uribe and current President Santos, in pushing for improvements. (continue reading…)

The Dallas Morning News on Sunday does its own story on the anniversary of Mexico’s tariffs retaliating against the United States for violating NAFTA, also reporting on Brazil’s WTO-sanctioned tariffs retaliating against the U.S. cotton program, “Companies caught in the middle of U.S.-Mexico trucking dispute“:

“We have heard from American exporters,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Tuesday. “We understand the sense of urgency. We will work as quickly as we can to see if we can’t come up with an acceptable solution.”

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has assured exporters that he’s hopeful a deal can be reached soon. But he said the same thing a year ago.

“We have not yet floated any proposals with Mexico and look forward to consulting with members of Congress,” the department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Thursday in a statement.

The Mexican embassy in Washington issued a news release last week:

We continue to seek every opportunity for dialogue and engagement with the Administration and Congress on this issue, and we urge the former to come forward with a specific proposal to resolve the cross-border trucking impasse.

In the meantime, Mexico will continue to exercise all legal means available to achieve full compliance by the United States with its commitments under the NAFTA. The safety of Mexican carriers and drivers operating in the United States has been well documented by an Independent Evaluation Panel, the Inspector General of the U.S. DOT and the Congressional Research Service. Mexico is the United States’ second-largest export market and the second largest buyer of US exports. It remains a steadfast supporter of free and fair trade, and will continue to work actively and responsibly with Congress and the Administration to find a solution.

The Morning News story highlights the impact of the Mexican and Brazilian tariffs on Texas-based Mary Kay, the personal care products company that has paid $5.4 million in Mexican tariffs over the last year.

As for the Brazilian retaliation…

• Bloomberg, “Brazil Raises Tariffs on U.S. Goods, to Break Patents“
• Capital Press, “Brazilian tariffs could stall exports,” reporting on the consequences to the ag sector.
• The Economist, “Picking a Fight“

Here’s the list of U.S. products and tariff percentages applied by Brazil, from the Brazilian Embassy. We’ll also put the list in the extended entry section below.

(continue reading…)