Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb confirmed on Sunday that the longed for free trade agreement (FTA) with the US will not be officially endorsed this year.
“The projected FTA will not be presented this year to Congress. We hope to initial the deal in October to be officially ratified next year,” Abul Ragheb told a press conference.
He said the US administration “must have thought that the elections campaigns may affect the outcome of the agreement.”
“We will finalize the deal by the end of September and by then the Congress will have gone to recess,” he explained.
A senior official told the Jordan Times on Thursday that the two countries have postponed the final round of negotiations on the FTA until mid-September.
He noted that the US has asked Jordan for the delay because of “internal politics” as the heated presidential elections shifted into high gear.
The negotiations were initially slated for last week, in hopes that a free trade agreement could be concluded before Congress goes into recess.
Republican and Democrats do not see eye-to-eye on the requirements for an FTA with foreign states. Unlike the Democrats, now in office, the Republicans tend to impose restrictions pertaining to environment and labour.
Jordan will be the fourth country to strike an FTA deal with the US, after Israel, Mexico and Canada.
The FTA will initially lower customs barriers on nearly 70 percent of goods in both directions.
The roster of items that will be exempt from customs will grow over a 10-year span, to include almost all exports and imports, except for cigarettes and alcohol, which earn the treasury millions of dinars in high taxation. ― ( Jordan Times )
By Saad G. Hattar
