Four US legislators – three senators and one representative –, mostly from the Democratic Party, will meet this Thursday with the president Luis Lacalle Pou in Cologne, where they will eat a roast and they will search strengthen the bilateral agenda between both countries.
The appointment will be at Presidential residence of Anchorenalocated within the Aarón de Anchorena National Park, and the four North American representatives are Democrats Bob Menendez, Tony Cardenas and Tim Kaine and the republican bill hagerty. In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Bustillo and the Uruguayan ambassador in Washington, andres duran.
“The objective of the visit to Uruguay is to talk with the highest government authorities about the state of bilateral relations and the economy”, reported the US Embassy in Montevideo about the meeting, where “the state of the democratic values in the region and highlight the role of Uruguay as an example of stability and democracy in the hemisphere”.
In December of last year, Menéndez, as head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Upper House, had urged –along with Republican Rob Portman– the administration of Joe Biden to strike up a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Uruguay to stop the advance of China in the region.
The Democratic senator is one of the main promoters of trade agreements between the North American power and Uruguay. Both he and the entourage he leads will stay in the country until Friday and then they will continue with their international tour, which also includes Chile and Brazil.
As reported by the US embassy, the delegation of the United States Congress is making this tour of Latin American countries “to talk with allies about how to strengthen regional cooperation in key areas for the development of the peoples of America, such as educationthe economic prosperitythe citizen security and the combat climate change”.
The proposed FTA between the United States and Uruguay
In a letter sent to the Secretary of State, Anthony BlinkenMenendez and Portman, a member of the committee and with experience in US trade agreements, proposed last December to use as a model the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)which the United States maintains with Mexico and Canadabut with Uruguay.
In the opinion of the senators, Washington should expand its trade ties with “trusted partners” as is the case with Uruguay and also Ecuadorgoverned by the conservative William Lasso. “Without greater US involvement, the United States risks losing market access opportunities for US companies and the potential erosion of our influence in the region in relation to China”, they alert.
“We note that, in the absence of commitment from the United States, both Ecuador and Uruguay have begun to look to others, including China, for preferential trade terms,” Menendez and Portman wrote.
The United States is currently the fifth destination for Uruguayan exports, surpassed by China, Brazilthe European Union (EU) and Argentina.
Uruguay was also included in the program of the Alliance for the Economic Progress of the Americas (APEP, for its acronym in English), a US initiative that seeks to promote investment and trade with countries of the continent.
Source: Ambito
