Deputy Minister for Agricultural Development Carlos Rognoni told Prensa Latina that the refusal to amend the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TPC) stands three weeks after Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes presented the official letters making the request at the northern nation’s embassy .
“The administration is still awaiting the United States’ response to review the terms of the tariff reduction program set for 2025, which affects items such as rice, beef, chicken and dairy products,” he said.
The letter from the TPC, in force since 2012, stipulates that the calendar ends with a zero tariff for 2025, making competition more difficult due to the asymmetry of the economies and, above all, the size of the US pig industry compared to the Panamanian
On March 18, Secretary of State Thomas Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Katherine Tai, Sales Representative, United States Charge d’Affaires in Panama, presented Stewart Tuttle with the above notes.
These texts express the Executive’s intention to use mechanisms to make adjustments provided for in the Pact on items of special social interest or sensitive items such as rice, milk and their derivatives, and chicken and pork.
The spirit of the TPC’s renegotiation is to encourage new terms of trade for these items without adversely affecting Panamanian agricultural production and the job creation they represent to the local economy, particularly rural areas, the official letters said .
Analysts reminded that the beginning of negotiations on this contract in 2005 caused the resignation of then Minister of Agricultural Development Laurentino Cortizo, now President of the Republic.
Statistics from the national poultry sector show that since the agreement came into force 10 years ago, the United States has recorded a surplus of more than $2.8 billion in the general trade balance and more than $400 million in the agricultural balance.
Meanwhile, Panama has exported various products to the northern nation for an approximate value of $90 million. mgt/ga