The Panama–United States Trade Promotion Agreement ( Spanish: ''Tratado de Libre Comercio entre Panamá y Estados Unidos'' or ''TLC'') is a bilateral

free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

between

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that has been in effect since October 2012. Stated objectives include eliminating obstacles to trade, consolidating access to goods and services and favoring private investment in and between both nations. Apart from commercial issues, it incorporates economic, institutional, intellectual-property, labor and environmental policies, among others. The negotiations were officially completed on December 19, 2006, though elements were still to be renegotiated. The agreement was signed on 28 June 2007, and Panama's National Assembly ratified it the following 11 July, before the 1200-page document had been translated into Spanish.

Concerns

The treaty has been said to be one of the main reasons for 2012 changes to copyright law of Panama, changes which have attracted a number of criticism from

free culture The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content, otherwise known as open content. They encourage creators to create such content by using ...

and

digital rights Digital rights are those human rights and Natural and legal rights, legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other Consumer electronics, electronic devices, and teleco ...

activists. The activists have criticized the U.S. government for giving in to the

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

by putting pressure on Panama and other Latin American countries, forcing them to adopt what they see as less progressive copyright bills, infringing on

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

in detriment to the public interest. On September 1, 2007, Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, who had been indicted by a U.S. grand jury for the murder of United States Army Sgt. Zak Hernández, was elected President of the National Assembly of Panama. Several members of the U.S. Congress stated that they would oppose the treaty while he held the post. González's appointment also caused controversy within Panama, particularly due to its threatening of the free trade pact. In one poll, most Panamanians stated that González should step down. However, González's backers stated that the U.S. opposition to his leadership was another chapter in a long history of American interference in Panamanian affairs, and rejected it as inappropriate. Former Panamanian President

Guillermo Endara Guillermo David Endara Galimany (May 12, 1936 – September 28, 2009) was a Panamanian politician who served as the president of Panama from 1989 to 1994. Raised in a family allied to Panameñista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, Endara attend ...

stated that he believed González to be guilty of the murder, though he opposed the trade agreement. President Martín Torrijos, a fellow PRD member who had negotiated the trade pact, made a private request for González to resign, but avoided publicly criticizing him. On March 7, 2008, it was announced that González would not seek reelection as head of the National Assembly when his term ended on August 31.

Approval

In the 112th U.S. Congress, the ascendancy of the Republican Party in the House of Representative led to new pressures to approve all three pending fast track free trade agreements (Colombia, Panama, and South Korea). Finally, in October 2011, President Obama submitted the three trade pacts to the Congress, and they were quickly passed. On October 12, 2011, the U.S.-Panama TPA was passed in the House by a vote of 300-129 () and in the Senate by a vote of 77-22 (). President Obama signed the pact on October 21, 201
(P.L. 112-43, 125 Stat. 427)
and the agreement entered into force October 31, 2012.
Every CRSReport, 8 Nov 2012, retrieved 22 Mar 2020

Criticism

On October 12, 2011,

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

( I- VT) criticized the Panama-United States Trade Promotion Agreement, arguing that

is a world leader in

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

and avoidance." After the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

leak on April 3, 2016, by the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with ...

and ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'', Sanders' criticism of the Panama Free Trade Agreement was brought back as a talking point.

References

External links

U.S. International Trade Commission Report on U.S.-Panama TPA.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131203005852/https://opencrs.com/document/RL32540/ The U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement

Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a ...

.
TradeRoots Fact Sheets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panama-United States Trade Promotion Agreement 2007 in Panama 2007 in the United States Economy of Panama Free trade agreements Free trade agreements of the United States Panama–United States relations Trade blocs Treaties concluded in 2007 Treaties of Panama

Concerns

Approval

Criticism

See also

References

External links