Ecuador Ambassador Says Loss Of ATPDEA Would Hurt U.S.

Ecuador Ambassador Says Loss Of ATPDEA Would Hurt U.S. Jobs, Drug Fight

Luis Gallegos, Ecuador''s ambassador to the U.S., said in a Dec. 4 interview with Inside U.S. Trade that the potential loss of unilateral trade preferences for Ecuador and Bolivia under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) could lead to the loss of tens of thousands of U.S. jobs and would hurt counter-narcotics efforts in those countries.

A bill to extend the ATPDEA and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which both expire on Dec. 31, could be voted on as early as tomorrow (Dec. 8) in the House. The bill is expected to be a one year extension of ATPDEA and GSP, but Senate Finance leaders have yet to agree on such an extension (Inside U.S. Trade, Dec, 3).

In the interview, Gallegos said he has yet to receive any indication from Congress or from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the future of ATPDEA benefits for Ecuador, which are in jeopardy due to questions over the country's treatment of U.S. investors, particularly Chevron.

But he argued that if Congress were to revoke preferences for Ecuador, that could lead to the loss of 50,000 U.S. jobs in the cut flower industry alone. This is because U.S. airlines often fly the cut flowers to the U.S. from Ecuador, U.S. importers handle the imported flowers and U.S. packaging industries help ensure the flowers arrive unharmed at their final destination, he explained.

ATPDEA benefits "don''t only produce jobs in Ecuador, they produce jobs in the United States," he said.

According to Bernardo Traversari, executive director of the Ecuadorean-American Chamber of Commerce, 80 cents of every dollar of flowers exported from Ecuador to the U.S. benefits a U.S. company.

Gallegos also argued that denying Ecuador or Bolivia ATPDEA benefits would hamper counter-narcotics efforts. ATPDEA beneficiary countries must effectively engage in these efforts in order to receive benefits, and the Congress will most likely not extend preferences for Bolivia because of its perceived failure to do so, sources said.

Gallegos said that Ecuador has been a "textbook case" of an effective counter-narcotics partnership with U.S. authorities, especially through border seizures. But he suggested that without the framework provided by ATPDEA for that partnership, these collaborative efforts could fall off in the future. In addition, he pointed out that Bolivia would have no incentive to improve its counter-narcotic efforts if it does not receive ATPDEA benefits.

The Bush administration suspended ATPDEA benefits for Bolivia last December, and the Obama administration earlier this year decided not to reinstate those benefits. Ecuador differs from Bolivia in that Ecuador is the only Andean country that does not cultivate coca, Gallegos said.

Gallegos also dismissed allegations by Chevron, which claims that ATPDEA benefits should be denied to Ecuador because the Ecuadorian government is intervening in a lawsuit involving Amazon residents over the liability for pollution caused by Texaco, which is now a subsidiary of Chevron.

"Everything is under control and under the rule of law," Gallegos said. "We are very respectful of international law in everything we do. Every step we have taken has been in line with international norms."