Latin America
Related: About this forumUS warns of fallout if Ecuador scraps bilateral treaty
Ecuador's possible scrapping of a bilateral investment treaty with the United States could lead to loss of American investment in the country, Washington's envoy warned Monday.
"If the bilateral investment treaty is canceled that would obviously have a negative effect because US companies would be afraid to invest," Ambassador Adam Namm said in an interview published in the local economic weekly Lideres.
Namm comments referred to the government's recent decision to carry out a review of its 26 international accords in response to concerns they undermine Ecuador's economic sovereignty.
A commission conducting the review is due to report its findings in mid 2014.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-warns-fallout-ecuador-scraps-bilateral-treaty-202407611.html
RC
(25,592 posts)Didn't Venezuela or some other South American country stand up the US a short while back?
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)Last edited Thu Nov 14, 2013, 01:31 AM - Edit history (1)
In fact, around 80% of the oil in Venezuela is still being sold to the US, making America Venezuela's favorite client. I wouldn't exactly call that "standing up" to them
Zorro
(15,737 posts)He believes those courts are unfairly biased for US claimants, and prefers the friendlier confines of Ecuadorean courts.
If Ecuador scraps the bilateral agreements, I think there will be a lot less US investment in Ecuador.
Socialistlemur
(770 posts)From a legal standpoint it's better for a USA company to set up a Dutch subsidiary and invest in Ecuador via that bilateral treaty. It helps if the USA puts Ecuador under sanctions. I bet most foreign companies in Ecuador are covered under a third country BIT.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)...to make economic agreements with the U.S. less important to Latin America than they have been in the past.
They have done this, first of all, by creating a fairer and more level "playing field" as to LatAm resources. For instance, when the Chavez/Maduro government demanded a fairer deal for Venezuela from Exxon Mobil (50% of profits to benefit Venezuela's poor, vs prior 10%), and Exxon Mobile balked and walked out of the talks, this opened the oil contracts to a much wider swath of oil companies around the world (a small company in Italy; Norway's Statoil and others).
Lula da Silva implemented a similar policy in Brazil (re Brazil's new oil find), and this has been the rule, overall, regarding all kinds of investments, particularly in resources, and is most especially notable as to the World Bank portfolio (which sank to almost zero in LatAm over the last decade or so), at no loss (and much gain) to LatAm (because of draconian, society-wrecking World Bank/IMF loan conditions). We've seen it in Chinese and other Asian investments in LatAm (for instance, Japan's investment in lithium development in Bolivia, also with social justice requirements). The leftists have sought a multilateral marketplace--a fair marketplace--in the course of asserting control and sovereignty over their resources and pursuit of social justice.
Correa himself is an economist (educated in the U.S.) and no dummy. He wouldn't be "reviewing" economic agreements if he didn't have other options.
Frankly, I think this is an idle threat by the U.S., which still doesn't seem to have a clue about the sea change that has occurred in Latin America, with the rise of the leftist democracy movement, which is going to add Chile to the list of countries with leftist governments this year (in addition to Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Nicaragua and El Salvador). The old threats don't work and just make people mad and even more determined to assert sovereignty and autonomy, and to reject U.S. bullying and domination, U.S. corporate looting and Pentagon expansion. Latin Americans want control of their own affairs, and will even endure temporary hardship (such as cutoffs of U.S. aid) to get it (as we've seen in Bolivia, Argentina and Venezuela). This is a freedom movement, though you wouldn't know it from the U.S.-dominated corporate press, which promotes the damned lie that leftists want to be, or are, dictators. None of them are any more dictators than FDR was. They are all champions of true democracy and of fairness, and are supported by majorities in fair elections.
This has its ironies and LOLs: The country that used to champion freedom now only champions freedom for huge, transglobal corporations and billionaires, and to hell with workers, small farmers, small businesses, the poor, the elderly, the sick, the young. U.S. policy is that any money that would go to the latter groups, to make a good society, instead should go into billionaires' pockets. And the countries that used to have vicious, U.S.-installed fascist dictators now demand the freedom that early north Americans fought for and won but which current north Americans can hardly remember: the sovereignty of the people.
Socialistlemur
(770 posts)Venezuela never nationalized the oil industry under Chavez. They did eliminate the arbitration clauses, and this led Exxon and ConocoPhillips to walk. But those companies have huge claims against Venezuela, so they will likely end up owning everything PDVSA owns in the USA - mostly CITGO.
Statoil was already there. And ENI and others signed deals but they are barely investing. I think they are all waiting for Maduro to be replaced by a sane president.