Three months after Senators Bob Menéndez and Jim Risch introduced the Innovation and Development in Ecuador Act (IDEA) proposal in the United States Senate on March 22, which seeks to reduce tariffs on nearly 99% of Ecuador’s non-oil export supplies to that market, the country is looking for allies to approve this initiative.

For this, the Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, Julio José Prado, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gustavo Manrique, have an agenda in Washington, where they hold meetings with authorities, senators, congressmen and representatives of international organizations.

The United States could cut tariffs on nearly 50% of Ecuadorian exports under legislation introduced in the Senate

One of those meetings was held on June 21 with Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Michael McCaul, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who, according to Prado, pledged their support for approval of the Proposal.

In addition, the project was introduced after Congress approved the bipartisan United States-Ecuador Association Act on December 15, 2022, with the goal of expanding cooperation on issues of mutual interest, including strengthening democratic institutions, promoting inclusive economic growth, supporting environmental initiatives and increasing the capacity to deal with the problems of corruption, crime and negative foreign influence.

With the approval of IDEA, Ecuador is intended to be a beneficiary of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act program, an initiative created 40 years ago that currently uses 17 countries with unilateral tariff preferences to enter the US market.

“We have obtained support at the highest level in the United States Congress to work on the IDEA law, which would allow access for 99% of Ecuadorian products to the United States market with zero or low tariffs,” Prado said on his Twitter.

But on June 20, Prado and a delegation from the private sector held a meeting with representatives of the American Society (Ascoa), where the importance of the IDEA proposal was explained.

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The approval of this law means the improvement of the conditions for the entry of Ecuadorian products to the American market while the trade agreement is being negotiated, the ministry pointed out.

Among the products that would benefit from this bill would be roses, tuna, mangoes and broccoli, which currently face tariffs of up to 14% for entry into the United States, and would face 0% tariffs.