ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (via Kevin Whited):

US and Peru end trade impasse with agreement (Hal Weitzman, December 7 2005, Financial Times)

The US and Peru struck a wide-ranging trade agreement on Wednesday after 18 months of talks that had been mired in disagreements over agricultural and intellectual property issues.

“An agreement with Peru is a key building block in our strategy to advance free trade within our hemisphere,” said Rob Portman, the US Trade Representative, after announcing the deal in Washington alongside Alfredo Ferrero, Peru’s trade and tourism minister.

Peru had been negotiating with the US as part of a wider deal that was to have included Colombia and Ecuador, although Peruvian negotiators had always said they would be prepared to go ahead alone. When talks with all three countries broke down at the end of last month, Lima signalled it would press on unilaterally. [...]

“We hope to later bring in the other Andean countries, including Colombia and Ecuador,” Mr Portman said on Wednesday, although a senior US trade official said the negotiations would aim for “substance over speed”.