Washington Watch - 08 April 2010
Brazil: On 6 April, the US government announced it had reached a preliminary agreement with Brazil to resolve the longstanding bilateral dispute over US subsidies for domestic cotton producers. Under the agreement Brazil would waive until 22 April US$829m in pending retaliatory tariffs on imports of US cosmetics, cars, food and appliances. The tariffs followed a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling in Brazil's favour in the dispute. The tariffs will be waived for a further 60 days thereafter if negotiations continue to move forward. For its part, the US has so far agreed to: create an annual fund of US$147.3m to provide technical assistance to the Brazilian cotton industry; review and modify its export credit guarantees for domestic producers; declare the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina 'Foot and Mouth disease free' and; complete a study into the possibility of the US importing fresh meat from Brazil.
Ecuador: The US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, visited Ecuador on 6 April as part of an official tour of the region that also included Colombia and Peru. He met President Rafael Correa and the foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, who described the meeting as “very positive" and stated that Ecuador must “maintain cordial and close relations" with the US on the “basis of mutual respect". Valenzuela and Patiño discussed bilateral trade, investment and environmental issues. Patiño also alluded to the “creation of a working group" of representatives from the Union of South American Nations and the US to discuss mutual issues of interest. While unspecified, these issues are likely to include US security policy in the region.
Guatemala: According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), during the first quarter of 2010 5,665 illegal Guatemalan immigrants were deported from the US, with 2,054 repatriated in March alone. The figures, though high, represent an 11.8% decrease in comparison to the same period of last year, when 6,427 people were deported. While official figures continue to show a decline in deportations year-on-year, US officials believe that of the estimated 1.2m Guatemalans living in the US, 700,000 are there illegally.
Venezuela: In response to the recent announcement by Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, that Russia would sell Venezuela up to US$5bn in new armaments, the US state department spokesman, Philip J Crowley, said on 5 April that the US was “hard-pressed to see what legitimate defense needs Venezuela has for this equipment". He added that the US's primary concern was that “if Venezuela is going to increase its military hardware, we certainly don't want to see this hardware migrate into other parts of the hemisphere".