CAFTA
The president of the Dominican Association of Wholesale Importers (ASODAI) Manuel Cabrera says that price reductions are being introduced gradually with the tariff reductions that have come about with the entry into effect of the DR-CAFTA treaty. However, fewer products than originally hoped are affected.
The Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) announced yesterday that it is postponing a nationwide referendum on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7 as a high court examines whether the assembly violated its procedures in its handling of legislation related to the pact.
At the request of a group of legislators, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) will review a controversial trade pact before Costa Rican citizens vote on it, according to a statement released Friday by the Judicial Branch.
On paper, the Dominican Republic is one of most dynamic countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Last year the economy of this country of 9 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, expanded at 10 percent. Politically the Dominican Republic is seen as one of the region’s most stable democracies.
The local automotive market hasn’t benefited in the 3 months of the since the Dr-Cafta trade pact took effect, said the ex-president of Acofave, which groups the auto maker’s representatives.
It’s a trade negotiator’s nightmare. The Costa Rican Supreme Court has announced plans to review the United States-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to assess the impact of that agreement upon civil liberties and human rights.
Representatives from Costa Rican business chambers said yesterday that they’re happy to publish information on campaign donations for the upcoming free-trade referendum - but only if the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) asks them to do so.
The Senate is set to modify the General Concessions Law so the Dominican Republic adheres to its commitments in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Central America.
Costa Rica’s Supreme Elections Tribunal has set Sept. 23 as the tentative date for a nationwide popular vote on the controversial Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
Prices of articles included in the free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States, DR-CAFTA, which is already in effect have not come down. If anything, they have increased. Small businesses are claiming that wholesale prices are more expensive.
Canadian exporters are facing discrimination in Latin America and elsewhere because of exclusive trade pacts the United States has with those countries, Trade Minister David Emerson has complained.
A lawyer expert in trade said that while the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. and Central America (DR-CAFTA) protects professional services via a law that governs them, such as lawyers, doctors, accountants, speakers and television hosts, work in the media can be exerted by any foreigner, because the law that governs it doesn’t demands the condition of Dominican or an affiliation with any union.
For those who do not know it, it is at the very least paradoxical that it was precisely President Oscar Arias, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and impassioned defender of “democracy,” who attempted to block a citizens’ initiative that would approve the convening of a referendum to decide on the Costa Rican people’s approval or not of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Costa Rican deputies who oppose a free trade agreement with the US demanded on Monday a consultation about the project before holding a binding referendum to solve the controversy over the issue.
The call for a referendum in Costa Rica to decide on the future of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States has unleashed a hotly-debated controversy on the issue, which has marked political life here over the last three years, the AFP reports.
This 2005 report describes efforts by the US sugar
industry to influence US policy on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the last 5-10 years, including
tracking money spent on lobbying, identifying and summarizing papers and studies by the industry
to support its position, and providing a description of the industry’s connections to policymakers.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Saturday announced that he will submit to the Legislative Assembly a proposal for a direct referendum over free trade agreement with the US.
Costa Rica will hold a referendum on whether to enter a regional free trade pact with the United States, President Oscar Arias said on Friday, in a blow to Washington’s trade agenda in the region.
Dominican Industries Association (AIRD) president Manuel Díez said yesterday that the fact that the authorities have yet to create the mechanisms to apply Law 01-02 on Unfair Business Practices is shameful, despite that it was approved more than five years ago.
At literally minutes to midnight on April 1, the United States signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korean negotiators and rushed it to Congress. Congress now has 90 days to review the Korea, Peru, Colombia, and Panama agreements, before fast track authority expires on June 30.
bilaterals.org team, Jan 2021