U.S. Senates approves FTA with Morocco
Morocco-USA, Politics, 7/22/2004

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved the free trade agreement signed on June 15 with Morocco and approved informally on July 15 by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The 85-13 vote in the Senate, to be followed by House action Thursday, would make Morocco the first country in Africa and the eighth in the world with a free trade relationship with the United States. The only other Arab nation is Jordan.

In a message sent last week to Congress, President George W. Bush called for support to the agreement, which had been finalized March 2, after seven rounds of negotiations.

The deal was first announced during a visit of King Mohammed VI to the United States in April 2002.

The FTA is expected to boost Morocco-US economic exchanges which do not exceed 1 billion dollars in average.

It will eliminate tariffs on 95% of bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products, with all remaining tariffs to be eliminated within nine years - the best market access package of any US FTA with a developing country signed to date, according to the US Trade Representative.

According to statistics of the US trade representatives' department, the United States exports to Morocco an average of USD 475 million-worth of goods and imports nearly USD 500 million from the country. Some 120 American companies are operating in Morocco. With a total investment of USD 600 million, they helped create 90,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Previous Stories:
  FTA with Morocco to reinforce relations with longstanding partner, Bush   (7/17/2004)
  Morocco's King, US President Bush call for quick settlement of Sahara issue   (7/10/2004)
  US House likely to vote Morocco-US FTA this month, Representative   (7/9/2004)

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