US Senators Urge Trade Talks With Ecuador and Uruguay
- Foreign Relations’ Menendez, Portman write to Tai, Blinken
- US risks losing influence in region to China, senators say
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 8 in Washington, DC.
Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Two senior US senators asked the Biden administration to start trade-agreement talks with Ecuador and Uruguay, using a pact with Mexico and Canada as a template to expand export opportunities with “trusted partners” in Latin America as China’s influence grows.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and fellow committee member Rob Portman — a former US trade chief and an Ohio Republican — asked Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to capitalize on the success of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and expand relations in the Western Hemisphere.