Moroccan officials tout free trade agreement
AgriNews, Illinois, USA
Moroccan officials tout free trade agreement
JAMES HENRY
17 April 2005
CHICAGO - It’s been deemed the “best market access package of any U.S. free trade agreement with a developing country to date” by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
So can the new trade agreement between the United States and Morocco actually live up to such spectacular billing?
It certainly will, said Moroccan Ambassador to the United States Aziz Mekouar during a recent trade delegation trip to Chicago.
He said the agreement, which takes effect this summer, will be a boon for U.S. farmers and grain processors, in particular.
“Morocco has been through very important economic reforms,” Mekouar explained. “The Moroccan economy is a very modern economy. It is very business friendly.”
In turn, he said trade between Morocco and the United States will continue to flourish. Trading between the two countries already has been increasing in anticipation of the free trade agreement, he said.
“I think it is a win-win situation,” the ambassador said. “Trade always brings wealth. You can see that in the world trade.”
Mekouar said Morocco decided to be a part of that global trade a long time ago. The country, which is located in northern Africa and borders the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, also has signed free trade agreements with Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia and the European Union.
For American businesses, the agreement eliminates tariffs on 95 percent of all bilateral trade between the United States and Morocco.
And, because of Morocco’s agreement with the European Union, tariff reductions will apply to U.S. goods produced in Morocco and sold in Europe.
U.S. exports to Morocco currently carry tariffs of more than 20 percent on average.
The United States exported more than $465-million worth of goods and services to Morocco in 2003, with a nearly $80-million trade surplus.
Primary U.S. exports to Morocco include aircraft, cereals and machinery, while Morocco ships foodstuffs, processed goods and textiles to the U.S. market.
Mekouar said Morocco also exports many phosphate products, including farm fertilizers, as well as vegetables and fruits to the United States. About 40 percent of the Morocco’s workforce is involved in agriculture, he added.
Mekouar said the free trade agreement is expected to be particularly beneficial to the U.S. grain industry.
The United States now accounts for roughly 60 percent of Morocco’s total corn imports, but it has met increasing competition from other exporters in recent years.
“The change in the tariff will put American corn even more competitive,” Mekouar said, adding Morocco has been purchasing an increasing amount of grain from Latin America and the Ukraine.
The trade agreement also should provide an important new market to U.S. wheat exporters, he said. The agreement creates new tariff rate quotas for wheat that could lead to a five-fold increase in U.S. exports to Morocco, he explained.
Mekouar said the agreement will allow U.S. wheat producers to compete on a level playing field with European competitors. He added U.S. beef producers also will be gaining an important new market.
He said Morocco is a model of political, social and economic reform in the region near the Middle East and is an important ally to the United States in the War on Terror.
The nation, which is slightly larger in land size than California, recently was elevated by the United States to the coveted major non-NATO ally status.
“Our conditions in Morocco fit perfectly with the situation of the United States,” Mekouar said.
