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US-PANAMA TRADE TALKS: THE PATTERN OF EXCLUSION AND DISCONTENT CONTINUES.

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Panama and the US finished the third round of free-trade negotiations on July 16 without progress on the protection of Panamanian farmers and without US concessions on shipping. There was some forward motion on the less controversial rules-of-origin and investment guarantees. One round remains to deal with the most difficult subjects.

While farmers and others who stand to be bruised by an agreement that would make them instantly disadvantaged in their own markets or noncompetitive in the US market demonstrated their disagreement in the streets (see NotiCen, 2004-06-17), chief negotiator Regina Vargo of the US team put a happier spin on the just-concluded events. "We had a tremendously productive third round because we advanced in access to industrial markets and started to discuss the most sensitive agricultural categories," she said at the closing news conference.

It is technically true that they "started" to discuss agricultural sensitivities, but a more substantive truth is that a full airing of the category was doomed from the start. Panama's trade minister Joaquin Jacome said he tried to get the agenda changed so that agriculture discussions could begin earlier. This effort failed because US negotiators said they could not make an earlier flight to get there on time.

Nor is it certain the US contingent would have agreed to the change. Their modus operandi is to leave the most difficult issues for last.

Vargo said the achievements of the...