USMCA as a Framework: New Talks Between U.S., Ecuador, Uruguay

Two senior U.S. senators asked the Biden administration to start trade-agreement talks with Ecuador and Uruguay, using a pact with Mexico and Canada as a template to expand export opportunities with “trusted partners” in Latin America as China’s influence grows.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and fellow committee member Rob Portman — a former U.S. trade chief and an Ohio Republican — asked Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to capitalize on the success of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA) and expand relations in the Western Hemisphere. 

Odds with Ecuador and Uruguay

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso met with U.S. counterpart Joe Biden Monday at the White House, where the leaders agreed that the countries had made historic progress in strengthening bilateral ties.

Lasso has previously noted that Ecuador is the only nation on the Western Hemisphere’s Pacific Coast that has no free-trade agreement with the U.S. 

In Uruguay, President Luis Lacalle Pou has started free-trade talks with China, wooed Turkey and applied to join the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc as he seeks to open markets to for the nation’s goods and services.

More on trade:

U.S. Expands Dairy Clash with Canada Through the USMCA
U.S.'s "Candid" GMO Corn Conversation With Mexico Results In Changes To Looming Trade Dispute