Congress extended the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) last week, allowing duty-free flowers to continue to come into the United States from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for the next eight months.

The Act was set to expire on June 30 but has been extended through Feb. 29, 2008, while lawmakers work to settle a number of issues regarding U.S. trade relations with those four nations. During this time, Congress will attempt to formally ratify already-signed free trade agreements with Colombia and Peru, which will grant permanent duty-free status for flowers coming into the U.S. from those countries.

However, there are no negotiations between the U.S. and Ecuador at this time regarding a free trade agreement. Rafael Correa, the new Ecuadorian president, has stated that he does not want to enter into an agreement with the United States, and members of Congress have expressed concern over Ecuadorian treatment of U.S. investments in that country. There also have been no negotiations with Bolivia regarding a free trade agreement.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, had opposed the extension for Ecuador and Bolivia because of the way they treat U.S. companies, he said. The extension will give Grassley and others time to re-examine trade preferences for those two nations.

The extension happened in the 11th hour after compromises were made. The original bill extending the ATPDEA, sponsored by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-15-N.Y.), was set for two years, while the Bush administration supported a one-year extension to encourage lawmakers to speed up the work on the trade agreements.

The Andean Trade Preferences Act originally went into effect in 1991, opening up more job opportunities in the countries, in exchange for stricter policies on illegal drugs.

Ecuadorian importers illustrate the potential impact of the ATPDEA not being extended, in an ad placed in a Capitol Hill publication, above.

Since its inception, the program has created jobs outside the region's illegal drug sector by allowing the countries to export about 5,600 products, including cut flowers, according to Reuters.

The Ecuadorian Flower Growers and Exporters Association stressed the importance of the ATPDEA and its impact on its flower industry in an advertisement it recently placed in the June 14 issue of Roll Call, a newspaper covering Congressional news that is published four times a week when Congress is in session.

The ad (see picture), depicting a rose next to an image of a razor blade and line of cocaine, states: "A rose is a rose, except when it is all that stands between the US and the illegal drug trade. Thanks to the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), Ecuador is the only country in the region with zero coca cultivation. That is because Ecuadorians enjoy something that most poor countries lack -- jobs."

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 

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