No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveUS mulls wider trade pact with Latin America

US mulls wider trade pact with Latin America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States is exploring the idea of setting up a wider regional trade pact with Latin America, Secretary of State John Kerry revealed on Sunday.

“I believe we could look to a stronger set of initiatives between Canada, the United States, Mexico particularly, and the rest of Latin America. We could do more within the hemisphere,” Kerry told CNN Español.

He told the network’s Andres Oppenheimer and the Miami Herald newspaper that he could foresee a wider pact beyond the North American Free Trade Agreement, which groups the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The United States already has economic ties with 12 nations in Latin America, he said, adding “we’re very strongly connected. We have six different trade agreements that constitute those 12 countries including the Caribbean.”

The top U.S. diplomat said he had instructed his staff to explore the possibility of deepening the trade links with the region, and that he had already had “encouraging” talks with a number of experts.

“We’re going to try to do our due diligence on this, and I’m really hopeful. … I would like to see us try to get something in place.”

But Kerry warned some nations were not yet ready for such a move.

“We need to move some countries in Latin America along in order to try to really make that meaningful, because some of them don’t want it today,” he said. “It’s not that we wouldn’t try to move in that direction, but we still need to try to improve relationships.”

Kerry was speaking before he left for a visit to Vietnam and the Philippines seen as part of U.S. moves to strengthen plans for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Washington is also negotiating what is billed as the world’s largest free trade accord with the European Union, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Kerry said both deals were “critical,” adding that “for all of us, our future economy, economic growth and development is going to rely on moving both to Europe and to the Pacific.”

Trending Now

Costa Rica Allows Cryptocurrency Donations for Political Parties

Costa Rica's electoral authorities have approved a groundbreaking shift, letting political parties accept donations in select cryptocurrencies for the first time. This move, led...

Costa Rica Bill Targets Pretrial Detention for Organized Crime Cases

Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly is moving forward with a bill that aims to strengthen the rules around pretrial detention in response to growing threats...

Back North from Costa Rica: An Expat’s Culture Shock

I am presently away from Costa Rica. I am in a foreign country. I was born here, but it is now a different place...

Costa Rica Approves Extradition of Ex-Minister Gamboa and Associates

A Costa Rican court has approved the extradition of former Security Minister Celso Gamboa Sánchez to the United States on charges of international cocaine...

US Revokes Visa of CRHoy Owner Amid Fraud Allegations

The US government revoked the tourist and business visa of Leonel Baruch, the businessman behind Costa Rican news site CRHoy. Reports connect the move...

Costa Rica Landslide Tragedy as Family Buried Alive

Heavy rains triggered a deadly landslide in Piedades Sur, San Ramón, Alajuela, late Saturday night, burying a family home and killing two adults and...
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica