The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early today, overcoming objections by unions, sugar producers and textile makers in what was the most contentious trade fight in Congress in more than a decade.
The vote was 217-215 in favor of Cafta, in an hour-long vote held just after midnight in Washington. With only a minor procedural step in the Senate ahead, today's vote effectively completes a yearlong battle for U.S. ratification of Cafta...
Cafta ends most tariffs on more than $33 billion in goods traded between the U.S. and Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. That includes removing duties on 80 percent of the $15 billion in annual U.S. exports to the region and making permanent the duty-free access to the U.S. that most products from Central America already have...
The legislation must now go back to the Senate for completion in a procedural step. Senators already voted 54-45 in favor of the measure on June 30.
Legislatures in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have already passed Cafta, while governments in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua are still debating it.
As usual, there were compromises...
The administration was able to garner just enough votes by pledging to maintain caps on sugar imports, getting commitments from Central America to renegotiate some textile export provisions, and by meeting with U.S. lawmakers at least twice this week about Cafta's "geopolitical'' necessity.
... but on balance, I'm impressed.