"Wretched CAFTA"

Here's some more news form the CAFTA front:

Several countries balking at Cafta plunge

By Elisabeth Malkin
The New York Times
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Two months after the Central American Free Trade Agreement was supposed to go into effect, only El Salvador is ready to join, frustrating Washington after a hard-won victory in its push toward free trade.

Of the five other countries that agreed to participate, four have yet to change a host of laws to bring them into line with the agreement, which requires them to open up their economies to American trade and investment, dismantle protections for many local industries and enforce intellectual-property rights. The fifth country, Costa Rica, has yet to ratify the agreement.

As the legal changes make their way through the various congresses, they have reignited opposition from an array of groups who fear the trade alliance with the United States will destroy many local businesses and impoverish farmers.

Central American governments also face pressure from powerful business groups that backed the agreements to win the best deal possible.

To complicate matters, some Central American governments now argue that the U.S. government is asking for more than the countries agreed to.

The Bush administration has made the accord a centerpiece of its trade policy, although the six countries' economies account for less than 2 percent of the United States' overall global trade. The new delays bode poorly for Washington's efforts to create a free trade zone spanning the Americas, a plan that has met with little enthusiasm among larger South American countries like Brazil.

Read the entire article

In another article Guatemala's vice minister of foreign trade, Enrique Lacs, declared that "the U.S. negotiation practices have been wretched".

Lacs added that the U.S. negotiating team still wants several more side agreements with Guatemala including lifting restrictions on the importation of antennas and other telecommunications equipment.

Tags: Guatemala, CAFTA, Free, Trade, Agreement