According to the report from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI), negotiations on this pact, in force since 2012 but with serious disadvantages for the domestic sector, could extend throughout the year.

For Giulia De Santics, president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDE), the expiration of the deadlines and grace periods for tariff protection for domestic agricultural products is concerning, noting the “permanent tension between free trade and domestic production.”

For his part, Samuel Vernaza, president of the National Cattle Ranchers Association (ANAGAN), described the TPA as a treaty with a “totally asymmetric relationship” given the great disparity between the United States economy, which includes large subsidies, and the Panamanian primary sector.

The agreement affects key sectors of local production such as rice, dairy products, and meat; and exempts more than 87% of the United States’ exports of industrial and consumer goods to the Panama Canal country from tariffs.

It also includes disciplines related to customs administration and trade facilitation, technical barriers, government procurement, investment, telecommunications, e-commerce, intellectual property rights, and labor and environmental protection.

In statements to the TVN news channel, Carlos Pitty, president of the National Association of Pork Producers, ruled out that the Americans would give up anything, regardless of the government.

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