US trade benefits for Ecuador seen at risk in Assange case

A possible decision this week by Ecuador to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would put long-time US trade benefits for the Andean country at risk, US business leaders and analysts said.

“It’s not a move destined to win many new friends in Washington,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice-president at the Council of Americas, a group representing US companies that do business in the Western Hemisphere.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said on Monday he hoped to announce his decision on Mr Assange’s asylum request by the end of the week.

Mr Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.

The former computer hacker, whose WikiLeaks website published thousands of secret US diplomatic cables in 2010, says he fears he could be sent to the United States, where he believes his life would be at risk.

Chevron Corporation and many US business groups are already urging the White House to suspend Ecuador’s trade benefits under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which dates to the early 1990s.

Human rights group, in another sign of eroding support in Washington for Ecuador, also have raised concerns about Mr Correa’s clampdown on the media, said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank focused on US relations with Latin America.

“There’s an irony that someone like Mr Correa, who is criticised for his attacks on press freedom, is allied with somebody (Mr Assange) who is supposed to be a champion for the freedom of information,” Mr Shifter said.

“What sort of brings them together is their defiance of the United States,” Mr Shifter said.

Congress first passed the Andean trade programme in 1991 to help create jobs in the region and discourage the illegal drug trade. It allowed Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador to ship thousands of goods to the United States without paying duties. Ecuador is now the sole beneficiary under the programme since Colombia and Peru have negotiated free trade pacts with the United States and the White House suspended Bolivia in 2008 for its failure to cooperation in the US war on drugs.

Ecuador exported about $1.7 billion worth of goods to the United States under the programme in 2011, mainly $1.6 billion of petroleum products. That was down sharply from $4.2 billion in 2010, partly reflecting an eight-month expiration of the programme while the US Congress and the Obama Administration bickered over a number of trade concerns.

Other important exports for Ecuador under the programme include cut flowers and fruits such as mangoes and pineapples. The programme will expire again next July unless Congress votes to renew it. In addition, the Obama Administration could suspend Ecuador’s benefits sooner if it decides Quito is not meeting the programme’s eligibility requirements.

“In my view, (a decision to grant Mr Assange asylum) would add to the growing weight of issues arguing against reauthorisation next summer. The question is whether it would also create sufficient interest in suspending the benefits before they actually expire,” Mr Farnsworth said.