MOVING AHEAD WITH A CANADIAN FREE TRADE DEAL

You wake up one day and Panama again has passed legislation to make more inroads to a rock solid economy. This agreement on bilateral free trade is expected to go into effect as early as 2010. Mr. Harper and President Marinelli announced this during a visit by the Prime Minister of Canada. Hopefully it will increase the exchange of export products and of goods and services. The economy in Panama grew by 9.2 percent in 2008 and experienced only a slight dip due to the worldwide economic crisis. The U.S. has delayed a pending agreement due to concerns about possible job loses and Panama acting as a tax haven for U.S. Citizens. Both agreements benefits the banking, shipping and services related to the transport sector. A future increase in trade with Canada is expected once the pact is ratified by both the respective legislators in both countries. The United States again lags behind with treaties delayed in Latin America by human rites issues and potential tax cheats. This seems to be a fairly hypocritical reason to hold up trade which is important to the U.S. economy. When the U.S. practices what they preach on human rights internationally and domestically I will understand delays due to issues over "human rights". Perhaps the U.S. should also use existing laws in the U.S. to collect their taxes. The U.S. has been less than perfect in both areas.

Simple Truth once again.