In Favor of CAFTA and the FTAA
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Background of CAFTA
In January of 2003, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, also known as CAFTA, began negotiations. The United States along with five Central American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras met to discuss opening borders and making trade easier to improve economic growth and lower poverty. On December 17, 2003, less than one year after beginning negotiations, the United States signed a free trade agreement with four of the five countries. Costa Rica pulled out in order to reevaluate everything properly, but the US feels a deal will be made with them shortly.
The CAFTA agreement aims to abolish nearly all trade barriers between participating countries over the next decade. The US hopes that the deal, which has still to be approved by Congress, will help to further along the progress of the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). But this agreement will not only help the United States but all countries involved.
General Benefits of CAFTA
CAFTA will significantly expand total trade between the United States and Central America, which already exceeded $20 billion in 2001. Today, the United States is Central America's most important trading partner. The five Central American countries purchase about 70% of their non-oil imports from the United States while U...