‘We have to make sure that we as a business community win the debate,’ Christman [of the US Chamber of Commerce] said, adding, ‘It is by no means clear that we will win.’

From the Miami Herald [via bilaterals.org]

A Dominican Republic news site is blaming Texaco-Chevron for the US dragging its heels on bringing the country into the DR-CAFTA fold. [Link]

At least one site is mentioning that a Mercosur-US FTA is more likely than moves towards the Free Trade Area of the Americas. [Link].

The Hill.com has some thoughts on the Sugar lobby and their future in the US Congress.

American Crystal is one of several groups representing the U.S. sugar industry that stepped up their political activity in the wake of the fight over CAFTA. The cooperative spent a record sum — more than $1 million — on political contributions to House and Senate campaigns in the 2005-2006 election cycle, according to the PoliticalMoneyLine website. This is almost twice what the company spent during the 2002 cycle and $250,000 more than the total for 2004.

DR-CAFTA was seen as a defeat by the sugar lobby because it allowed for an increase (though small) of sugar imports. [Link].

Investment ratings firm Fitch Ratings has given El Salvador a ‘BB+’ Rating in part because of its participation in DR-CAFTA. [Link]. Wikipedia for Fitch Ratings here.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney predicts a tough fight for an extension of the Trade Promotion Authority, a law that allows for the fast tracking of free trade agreements by the President. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) predicts that the fight will involve labour and environmental standards.[Link].

Development bank the Central American Bank for Economic Integration has predicted GDP growth in Central America up by over 5% for 2007 in part because of DR-CAFTA related projects. [Link].

The International Economic Law and Policy Blog notes that more than just the threat of a WTO dispute can affect domestic farm subsidies — the cost of the Iraq war will hurt the budget for US agriculture spending.

Speaking of domestic farm subsidies, Ben Muse has a post on the EU / US trade deal involving capping these subsidies. It looks like this deal could revive the Doha Round.

Both of these posts, for me, reinforce the need to look at the circumstances of these agreements holistically, as many forces come into play when negotiating these agreements.

And in regional political news, bilaterals.org has a copy of an AP story ‘Unification remains elusive at Mercosur‘ discussing last week’s two-day Mercosur summit. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales were both there advocating a reformation of Mercosur to focus in on areas other than free trade.

The Chavez / Morales agenda is the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA in Spanish). This is an agreement put forth as an alternative to FTAs, and emphasizes social policy rather than ‘free trade’.

For more links, you might want to see this ZNet story, the ALBA wikipedia entry, and this piece from venezuelanalysis.com.