Ecuador Renounces to ATPA

ECUADOR - In Brief 27 Jun 2013 by Magdalena Barreiro

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Minister of Industries and one of Correa’s right hand announced this morning that “Ecuador gives up unilaterally and irrevocably to the trade protection under the ATPA treaty”. It is difficult to assess this statement either as provocative or irrelevant. On one side the agreement would have expired on July 31st and the probabilities of the US Congress renewing it were quite low.  Also, last May President Correa declared that the ATPA had become an instrument of US political pressure: “you behave, we will renew the agreement, you don’t, we will not” anticipating the negative outcome.  Therefore, the government was already looking for mechanisms that would make up for the economic impact of losing these trade preferences which could amount to $24 million. On the other hand, the announcement comes when the government is considering providing political asylum to Edward Snowden claimed by the US for various crimes.  In this context, it looks like the government is trying to send a clear message that it will not be subject to neither accept any kind of pressures from the US while making this decision. In either case, this situation must be embarrassing for the Ecuadorian Ambassador in Washington Nathalie Cely who last May launched the “Keep Trade Going” campaign in Chicago aimed at increasing the willingness of the US Congress to renew the ATPA.