Ecuador Cancels Trade Pact Over U.S. ‘Blackmail’ in Snowden Case

Ecuador, the South American nation mulling an asylum request from fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, renounced its U.S. trade benefits today, saying they were being used as “blackmail.”

“Ecuador doesn’t accept pressure or threats from anyone,” Communications Secretary Fernando Alvarado said in a statement published in the presidential gazette. “It doesn’t barter its principles or submit to mercantile interests, however important they may be.”

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June 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about Africa's growth potential, the Supreme Court's rulings on same-sex marriage and voting rights, and U.S. relations with Russia and China as it pursues leaker Edward Snowden. He speaks at a news conference in Dakar with Senegalese President Macky Sall. (Excerpts. Source: Bloomberg)

The announcement comes a day after U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would lead the effort to block renewal of trade preferences for Ecuador if it granted Snowden asylum. The Andean nation has been lobbying the U.S. congress to renew the preferences, known as ATPDEA, which are due to expire next month.

“Our government will not reward countries for bad behavior,” Menendez said yesterday in a statement. “If Snowden is granted asylum in Ecuador, I will lead the effort to prevent the renewal of Ecuador’s duty-free access under GSP and will also make sure there is no chance for renewal of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. Trade preferences are a privilege granted to nations, not a right.”

Ecuador would lose at least 40,000 jobs if the trade preferences aren’t renewed, the nation’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nathalie Cely said last year. While most of the $1.01 billion in exports to the U.S. in April were oil, shipments also included more labor intensive products such as cut flowers, broccoli and shrimp. Exports fell from $1.14 billion in April 2012, according to U.S. Census data.

Alvarado, who called the trade preferences a “new instrument of blackmail,” said Ecuador’s government is offering the U.S. $23 million, an amount similar to what the U.S. provides under the ATPDEA deal, to provide human rights training to combat torture, illegal executions and attacks on peoples’ privacy.