BUENOS AIRES (dpa-AFX) - Thursday, President Donald Trump announced breakthrough trade deals with El Salvador, Argentina, Ecuador, and Guatemala, allowing greater and more streamlined market access in some of America's most critical strategic partners in the Western Hemisphere.
These deals secure commitments on economic and national security issues to strengthen supply chains and trade partnerships in the region, deepening bilateral trade and investment cooperation to provide American exporters with unprecedented access to markets in Central and South America.
The deals will help U.S. farmers, ranchers, fishermen, small businesses, and manufacturers to increase U.S. exports to and expand business opportunities with these trading partners, the White House said.
El Salvador has committed to addressing a range of non-tariff barriers, including by streamlining regulatory requirements and approvals for U.S. exports, such as accepting vehicles and automotive parts built to U.S. motor vehicle safety and emissions standards and accepting FDA certificates and prior marketing authorizations for medical devices and pharmaceuticals. El Salvador will also break down non-tariff barriers for U.S. agricultural products in its market, including ensuring that U.S. agricultural exporters will not be restricted due to the mere use of certain cheese and meat terms.
Argentina will provide preferential market access for U.S. goods exports, including certain medicines, chemicals, machinery, information technology products, medical devices, motor vehicles, and a wide range of agricultural products. It has also committed to addressing structural challenges cited in the U.S. Trade Representative's 2025 Special 301 report.
Guatemala has committed to facilitating digital trade, including by refraining from imposing digital services taxes that discriminate against U.S. digital services or U.S. products distributed digitally, ensuring the free transfer of data across trusted borders, and supporting a permanent multilateral moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions at the WTO.
Ecuador has committed to maintain high levels of environmental protection, take measures to improve forest sector governance and combat illegal logging, and fully implement the obligations of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The White House said Ecuador government has agreed remove or decrease a range of tariff barriers across key goods sectors, including tree nuts, fresh fruit, pulses, wheat, wine, and distilled spirits, and eliminate a variable tariff on many agricultural products it had imposed through the Andean Price Band System.
In the coming weeks, the United States will work expeditiously with El Salvador, Argentina, Ecuador, and Guatemala to finalize the Trade Agreements for signature.
The United States will also give Most Favored Nation (MFN)-tariff treatment for certain goods originating from these countries that cannot be grown, mined, or naturally produced in the United States in sufficient quantities.
For El Salvador and Guatemala, the United States will also remove the reciprocal tariffs from certain products, such as textiles and apparel products, originating under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. This will be a boon for U.S. textile production and El Salvador's and Guatemala's economic growth, and will strengthen the resilience of textile and apparel supply chains, according to the White House.
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