Panama - Trinidad and Tobago Agreement Comes Into Effect
-July 5th, 2016
Source: Central America Data
Under the terms of the Partial Scope Trade Agreement bovine and porcine meat from Panama will enter the Caribbean country duty-free. Panama received 51 additional lines in its favor which include dairy products such as cheese, a variety of fresh and frozen seafood, juices made from non-tropical fruits, flowers and foliage, fruit and vegetables, tropical fruits, flour, fat and fish oil, sausages, butter, fats, cocoa oil and salt.
New Panama Canal offers new opportunities for U.S. agriculture
-July 1st, 2016
Source: Ohio´s Country Journal
Almost one-third of U.S. corn, wheat and soybeans now transit the Panama Canal to reach Asian markets. Now, with the new $6 billion Panama Canal expansion completed, cargo capacity will double and could shorten travel distance from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia by some 5,000 nautical miles and seven to nine days. “The new canal really has the potential to enhance the economics of a host of industries and we feel that agriculture is one of them,” said Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, who was in Panama for the Grand Opening of the expansion at the end of June.. With the expansion of the Panama Canal, American commodities like corn and soybeans will be loaded from the key export region of the Mississippi Gulf at almost double the rate, almost 2 million bushels more per vessel, then ships that traveled the original canal.
New Panama Canal Brings US LNG Closer to Asia
-July 1st, 2016
Source: World Maritime News
The newly expanded Panama Canal has significant implications for LNG trade, reducing travel time and transportation costs for LNG shipments from the US Gulf Coast to key markets in Asia and providing additional access to previously regionalized LNG markets, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Furthermore, the canal will be able to accommodate 90 percent of the world’s current liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers with LNG-carrying capacity up to 3.9 billion cubic feet (Bcf), while, prior to the expansion, only 30 of the smallest LNG tankers with capacities up to 0.7 Bcf, which make up 6 percent of the current global fleet, could transit the canal.
Trump and Clinton are both wrong about trade
-June 30th, 2016
Source: The Washington Post
While the competing candidates for president each make anti-trade rhetoric a central theme to appeal to populist anger and a nationalist mood, they’re leaving out a few key facts about trade. It is good for the country. It is vital for our economy. And, yes, it helps American workers. In the worldwide economy, trade is our best tool to create new jobs and spur growth here at home. About one-third of U.S. jobs created between 2009 and 2014 were in trade-dependent industries. Today, more than 40 million American jobs are tied to trade.
Pacific Alliance finance ministers eye financial integration
-June 30th, 2016
Source: Reuters
The Pacific Alliance trade bloc must improve integration of financial systems to spur investment in key areas such as infrastructure, finance ministers from the four member nations said on Thursday. The group, composed of Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru, has already reached several accords in areas such as free commerce and immigration rules. But at a summit in the scenic Chilean towns of Frutillar and Puerto Varas, financial leaders stressed that significant opportunities for integration remained.