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REGION FEELS PRESSURE OF FREE-TRADE DISAGREEMENTS WITH U.S.

Article Excerpt
The recent curtailment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings at Cancun was credited to the cohesiveness of a group of developing countries, known as the G-21, that mounted a fierce opposition to what they deemed unfair agricultural trade practices on the part of the US, Europe, and, to a lesser extent, Japan.

Among the Central American countries, Guatemala and Costa Rica were members of the group. El Salvador had been a member, but dropped out. Following the failure at Cancun (see NotiCen, 2003-09-18), there was diplomatic and journalistic speculation as to whether the G-21 would endure. The question had particular relevance for the region, since the issue over which the WTO came to grief was agricultural subsidies, the same issue that continues to threaten the outcome of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The CAFTA negotiations now appear to depend for their scheduled completion this December on one or more "minirounds," or unscheduled negotiating sessions interposed between the scheduled rounds. With one such miniround about to start in Guatemala, that country and Costa Rica have both indicated that they intend to remain as members of G-21.

Patricia Ramirez, Guatemala's minister of economy, said, "Guatemala's opposition on the subject of subsidies coincides with that which the G-21 wants to negotiate in the WTO." She added, "We are agriculturists, and Guatemala must align itself with whatever group promotes benefits for [agricultural countries]."

Costa Rica's Commerce Minister Alberto Trejos told the press in his country that it, too, would maintain its support of the G-21 in opposition to the market-distorting subsidies that the US government provides its farmers.

Newspapers in both Costa Rica and Guatemala have reported that their governments have been pressured by the US government and by US members of Congress to abandon their affiliation with the G-21. They have been threatened that, if they do not, they could be excluded from CAFTA negotiations. The...

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