|
:''Note: Within this article, "CAFTA" refers to the agreement as it stood before January 2004, and "CAFTA-DR" is used after that.'' The Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) is a free trade agreement (legally a treaty under international law, but not under U.S. law). Originally, the agreement encompassed the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and was called CAFTA. In 2004, the Dominican Republic joined the negotiations, and the agreement was renamed CAFTA-DR. CAFTA-DR, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and active bilateral free trade agreements such as the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement are seen as bloc agreements instead of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement. Panama has completed negotiations with the United States for a bilateral free trade agreement known as the Panama–U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement, and has been in effect since October 2012. The CAFTA-DR constitutes the first free trade agreement between the United States and a small group of developing countries. It was created with the purpose of creating new and better economic opportunities by opening markets, eliminating tariffs, reducing barriers to services, and more. In 2009, it was estimated that the total two-way trade resulted in $37.9 billion.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/cafta-dr-dominican-republic-central-america-fta )〕 Nearly all Central American exports to the United States had already been tariff-free thanks to the 1984 Caribbean Basin Initiative. ==Ratification== The agreement is a treaty under international law, but not under the U.S. Constitution because in the United States laws require majority approval in both houses, while treaties require two-thirds approval in the Senate only. Under U.S. law, CAFTA-DR is a congressional-executive agreement. The U.S. Senate approved the CAFTA-DR on June 30, 2005, by a vote of 54–45,〔(30 June 2005 Senate Roll Call Vote on Passage of S. 1307 )〕 and the U.S. House of Representatives approved the pact on July 28, 2005, by a vote of 217–215, with two representatives not voting.〔(27 July 2005 House Roll Call Vote on Passage of H.R. 3045 )〕 Controversy arose over this vote because it was held open 1 hour and 45 minutes longer than the normal 15 minutes in order to get some members to change their votes.〔(push from Bush, CAFTA is approved" 28 July 2005 ''St. Petersburg Times'' article )〕 For procedural reasons, the Senate took a second vote on CAFTA on July 28 and the pact garnered an additional vote from Sen. Joe Lieberman—who had been absent on June 30—in favor of the agreement.〔(28 July 2005 Senate Roll Call Vote on Passage of H.R. 3045 )〕 The implementing legislation became Public Law 109-053 when it was signed by President George W. Bush on August 2, 2005. The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras have also approved the agreement. They are all the current members of CAFTA-DR. El Salvador became the first country to formally implement CAFTA, which went into effect on March 1, 2006, when the Organization of American States (OAS) received signed copies of the treaty. On April 1, 2006, Honduras and Nicaragua fully implemented the agreement. On May 18, 2006, the Congress of Guatemala ratified CAFTA-DR, which went into effect on July 1, 2006. The Dominican Republic implemented the agreement on March 1, 2007. In a referendum on October 7, 2007, Costa Rica narrowly backed the free trade agreement, with 51.6% voting "Yes"; the agreement took effect on January 1, 2009.〔(Latinamerica Press: Article )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|