Ecuador’s trade authorities plan to set down the roadmap for the trade agreement with the United States today.
The joint statement will be made after the meeting of the Bilateral Investment Council of both countries (TIC, for its acronym in English).
This is the main objective of the visit made since yesterday by the Ecuadorian delegation that is in Washington.
Although, in 2021, in both nations there will be changes in the governments, the commitments would be respected. For example, it is planned to include the negotiation of a treaty with Ecuador in the work agenda of the United States Department of Commerce (USTR, for its acronym in English)
The director of donations of the Business Center of the Ecuadorian American Chamber (Amcham), Iván Ortiz, explained that this is an internal process that follows US policy to put together its annual commercial agenda.
The Executive, represented by the USTR, requests authorization from Congress to include bilateral trade issues in which it is expected that our country will be taken into account.
According to Ortiz, the United States trade agenda must be approved in the Legislature in February 2021, almost a month after the departure of President Donald Trump and the inauguration of his successor, Democrat Joe Biden.
Only then would the work schedule be set that will officially begin the negotiations of an agreement, which can take up to two years to sign.
Ecuador seeks a fair agreement and hopes that this vision will be embraced by the new Biden government.
According to the Council of the Americas (AS / COA), among Biden’s proposals is to apply existing trade laws and at the same time issue regulations that protect workers, the environment, and labor standards.
The new US president has indicated that if Washington does not take charge of global foreign trade policy, Beijing will.
At this point, he has said that he will get support from US allies to question China on its unfair trade practices.
Our country awaits the opportunity to negotiate with greater speed, due to the experience it has.
Xavier Rosero, technical manager of the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), said that there are issues that have been analyzed in the treaties that Ecuador already has with the European Union, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Chile.
“The sensitivities of 15 years ago may be similar, but the experience of having discussed them in previous agreements is a great advance,” he said.
A sensitive area in the negotiation is the agricultural sector. In the case of Ecuador and the United States, there are already six working groups that have been discussing issues related to market access, intellectual property, agriculture, labor, investment and the environment.
Iván Ontaneda, Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries has mentioned that the intention is to reach an agreement in a first phase to advance on issues that are not sensitive, while the negotiations of a trade agreement are formalized.
Regarding exports, Ecuador sold more non-oil goods to the United States from January to August of this year than in the same period of 2019.
In the first eight months of 2020, shipments for USD 2.184.6 million were registered, while, in the same period of 2019, the figure stood at USD 1.795.1 million, according to the Central Bank.
Among the most popular Ecuadorian products are crustaceans, bananas, flowers, cocoa and canned fish.
Similarly, in the period of analysis there were fewer non-oil imports. More telephones and automatic machines were imported.
The balance of the total balance (including oil) was also positive: until August 2020 it was 503 million.
On the agenda with the North American country there are also security, cooperation and migration issues.
The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister was received yesterday by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo. Both will hold a meeting for consultations and negotiations today.
In terms of human mobility, Ecuador is also concerned about the deportations of our compatriots.
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