“We commend the Administration for working together with the Panamanian government to outline a pathway for approval of the agreement. In the same vein, we applaud Panama for fulfilling its commitments and taking quick action to ensure no further delay in consideration of the trade pact,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “The Panamanian parliament’s approval last week of the bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreement, coupled with recent reforms in the nation’s labor laws, helped to pave the way for today’s announcement.”
“The trade agreement will help expand and cement our already strong economic ties with Panama, and stands to boost U.S. exports to the benefit of American workers and industry – from large worldwide American companies to small- and medium-sized businesses and our nation’s farmers and ranchers.”
“Panama is an important export market for the United States, and our proximity to the Canal makes Panama not only a destination for U.S. goods and services, but a vital link to other markets in the hemisphere,” said NFTC Vice President for Regional Trade Issues Chuck Dittrich. “With the FTA in place, our equipment manufacturers and logistics companies, among others, will also have a competitive advantage in selling their products and services to Panama as the nation enters the next phases of the Canal expansion project slated for completion in 2014.”
“Great progress has been made on the Panama and Colombia FTAs in the past few weeks, and we applaud the Administration for ramping up outreach to the respective governments to resolve outstanding issues on both trade pacts. We urge the Administration to submit to Congress implementing legislation for all three pending trade agreements as soon as possible to ensure their approval before the July 4 recess.”
About NFTC
Advancing Global Commerce for Nearly A Century – The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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