Through a succession of both Democrat & Republican Congresses and Presidencies, bids for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and other proposals for closer economic ties in Latin America have languished in Washington’s increasingly acrimonious atmosphere. The wrangling over the FTAs for Colombia and Panama (and to a larger extent Korea) is about to begin again.But in Colombia and Panama, and indeed Latin America as a whole, frustration with Washington has grown. Latin America trade and investment with China and Europe has been become an increasingly viable alternative to the US. Recently Canada inked FTAs with Colombia and Panama, arguably stealing the March from the US in Latin America. Will Washington ante up?By George Lauriat, AJOTBack in 2006, Peter Hakim, then President of the Inter-American Dialogue, an Americas think tank, wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine, entitled “Is Washington Losing Latin America?” In the article Hakim argued, “For nearly a decade, US policy toward Latin America has been narrowly focused on a handful of issues, such as China’s growing influence in the region and the power of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Latin Americans want economic ties with the United States but feel slighted by Washington and uneasy about the US role in the world.” A year after, Hakim’s article was published, FTAs with Colombia and Panama were negotiated under the Bush Administration Congressional approval appeared likely. But the FTAs never were approved and frustration with the process has grown both with US business community and in Colombia and Panama with Washington’s inability to move forward. Shifting landscape With the debt battle slowly receding in the rear view mirror, the Obama administration would like to concentrate on “job creation”. For the Obama administration job creation is linked to exports. In 2010, President Obama introduced his National Export Initiative (NEI) with a goal to “double exports over the next five years, an increase that will support two million new jobs in America.” Inking the FTAs for Colombia, Panama and especially Korea is a key element in opening up US exports to these markets. Could result in $40 billion decline in US exports. In June, Francisco Sanchez, the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade echoed the importance for the Administration of getting the deals done, when he said at the Latin America Conference for the Association of American Chambers of Commerce held in Cartagena, Columbia, “Currently, 84% of US trade within Latin America is covered by free trade agreements. Passage and implementation of new trade agreements with Colombia and Panama is an Obama administration priority for 2011.” The figure is a little misleading as the agreements in many cases are not comprehensive (i.e. trade promotion agreements) and Mexico’s contribution distorts the dollar total. Some of South America’s largest economies, notably Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela are not under an FTA with the US and are unlikely to ink any pact in the near future. These countries, and many of their neighbors, are not as economically dependent on the US as other Caribbean and Central American nations. Further, countries like Brazil and Argentina have eschewed the Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA) region wide pact, in part because it represented an extension of the same trade model used by the US in bilateral agreements. In truth the economic links between the US and Latin American are a hodge podge of disparate pacts that The European Union (EU) has caught up with the United States when it comes to Colombia, Peru and Central America, undermining the U.S. advantage with those areas. Meanwhile, both Canada and the European Free Trade Association have signed FTAs with Colombia and Peru. Korea reached an FTA with Peru and is negotiating one with Colombia. Meanwhile, China, now Latin America’s second-largest trade partner has FTAs with Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. The emergence of China as a major econom