By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTAlthough the prospects of a once-envisioned Free Trade Area of the Americas coming to fruition are slim at best, a series of less-comprehensive trade promotion agreements is clearly boding to bring about further increases in commerce between the United States and other countries of the Western Hemisphere. Such agreements currently await implementation with Colombia, Panama and Peru, and the pacts are stirring enthusiastic anticipation on the part of leaders of such major US corporations as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Caterpillar, Inc. and Whirlpool Corp. These latest three agreements would expand the horizons of hemispheric free trade established in 1994 among the United States, Canada and Mexico through the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), augmented in 2004 with the US-Chile Free-Trade Agreement and further amplified from 2006 to 2007 with the Dominican Republic-Central American Free-Trade Agreement, which encompasses the Dominican Republic and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. DR-CAFTA has created the second-largest Latin American export market for US producers, behind only Mexico. US export growth to free-trade agreement partners is running at a pace of more than double that to those countries with which the United States does not have such pacts, according to Mark Smith, managing director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce. Not only do such agreements serve to increase trade volumes through elimination of both tariff and non-tariff barriers, according to Smith, but they also facilitate reduced transportation costs between partner countries. For example, he said, significant improvements in Guatemalan customs procedures, related to DR-CAFTA, have made doing business with that Central American country much faster and more lucrative. “We’re really bullish on the opportunities that the FTAs create,” Smith said, referring to the pending free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Peru. The US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement was signed in late December by leaders of both countries but cannot enter into force until the respective legislatures pass implementing legislation. The US-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement was signed in June, with a US understanding of congressional concerns related to labor, the environmental, intellectual property and other issues – issues similar to those that have combined with more broad-based opposition to consistently stall the multilateral Free Trade Area of the Americas notion since it was first discussed in 1994 at the Miami Summit of the Americas. Like its Colombian counterpart, the Panamanian pact also awaits passage by both countries of implementing legislation. Closer to realization is the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, which was signed in April 2006, with the Peruvian Congress ratifying it in June 2006 and President Bush inking the US implementation act in December. However, it still awaits Peru taking steps to ensure implementation of its obligations. Of the Dec. 4 approval by the US Senate of the Peru pact, Sarah Thorn, director of international trade at Wal-Mart and co-chairperson of the US Chamber-based Latin America Trade Coalition, said, “This vote is a great step toward restoring the bipartisan consensus on trade. “PTPA will bring tremendous benefits to thousands of Americans and Peruvians engaged in bilateral trade,” continued Thorn, whose firm, based in Bentonville, Ark., is the world’s largest public corporation, operating more than 4,000 discount retail stores in the United States and more than 2,800 stores in other countries. Bill Lane, Washington director for government affairs with Caterpillar, who co-chairs the Latin America Trade Coalition with Thorn, said, “The simple fact is that free trade is fair trade. “At its core, the agreement is an immediate tax cut on American exports and a permanent tax cut on Peruvian exports,” added Lane, whose Peoria, Ill.