Home › Blog Category: Free trade agreement

Blog Category: Free trade agreement

So What's in the Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama and Korea?

Submitted on October 4, 2011 - 3:30pm

Categories:

Economy
Exports
Free trade agreement
Jobs
Korean Free Trade Agreement
Panama
Trade Agreements
U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement
U.S.-Korea trade agreement
U.S.-Panama Trade Agreement
Office of the Secretary

Yesterday, President Obama sent three trade agreements to Congress for approval. While each of the trade agreements were negotiated differently, they all share one common goal - to increase opportunities for U.S. businesses, farmers, and workers through improved access for their products and services in foreign markets. Each supports President Obama’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015.

All Trade Promotion Agreements have one thing in common. They reduce barriers to U.S. exports, and protect U.S. interests and enhance the rule of law in the partner country. The reduction of trade barriers and the creation of a more stable and transparent trading and investment environment make it easier and cheaper for U.S. companies to export their products and services to trading partner markets.This results in jobs here in America.

The most common question about these agreements is, "What exactly is in them?" Below the fold are some of the key specifics for each agreement.

Download the video:

President Obama on South Korea Trade Agreement

Read the transcript:

Remarks by the President at the Announcement of a U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement

4 comments

Tariff Tool Demystifies U.S. Trade Agreements for Manufacturers

Submitted on June 16, 2011 - 10:30am

Categories:

Exports
Free trade agreement
International trade
Tariff
International Trade Administration

Guest blog by Justin Hoffmann, International Economist in the Office of Trade Policy Analysis.

Manufacturers who are looking to expand into new markets are often faced with myriad questions about tariffs and barriers to these new markets. Figuring out which products have what tariffs can be a very frustrating and time consuming process. That is why the International Trade Agency has developed a Free Trade Agreement Tariff Tool to help manufacturers quickly find the information they need.

For manufacturers, America’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners can be an attractive markets because these negotiated agreements eliminate tariffs, remove non-tariff barriers, and secure non-discriminatory treatment for U.S. goods and services.

While these agreements bring many benefits for manufacturers, they can be confusing. For example, in the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, the tariff schedules alone for that agreement go on for nearly a thousand pages. If a manufacturer is dedicated enough to slog through the pages to find out where his specific product is in the tariff schedule, he will learn, for example, that the tariff charged on his product before the agreement went into effect is 20 percent. Additionally, after some further digging around the agreement text, the exporter would also learn that the tariff on his product “shall be removed in ten equal annual stages beginning on the date this Agreement enters into force, and such goods shall be duty-free, effective January 1 of year ten”.

It is pretty clear that these lengthy documents are crafted by trade negotiators and lawyers and are really not written for U.S. manufacturers who are simply trying to export their goods to new markets.

The good news is that the FTA Tariff Tool provides this information instantly and almost effortlessly.