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    April 13, 2012

Obama Touts US Trade with Latin America Ahead of Regional Summit

   VOA News
   President Barack Obama arrives to speak at the Port of Tampa in Tampa,
   Fla., April 13, 2012.
   Photo: AP
   President Barack Obama arrives to speak at the Port of Tampa in Tampa,
   Fla., April 13, 2012.

   U.S. President Barack Obama touted the U.S. trade relationship with
   Latin America Friday as he prepared to leave for the Summit of the
   Americas in Cartagena, Colombia.
   Speaking at the port of Tampa, in the southern U.S. state of Florida,
   President Obama said U.S. exports to the Western Hemisphere are up 46
   percent from 2009. He said more U.S. exports now go to the Western
   Hemisphere than to any other region of the world.
   "Everybody here knows how critical this part of the world is to our
   economy and to creating jobs," said President Obama. "A lot of the
   countries in the region are on the rise. In Latin America alone, over
   the past decade, tens of millions of people have stepped out of poverty
   and into the middle class. So they're now in a position to start buying
   American products."
   He also pointed to free trade agreements he signed last year with
   Colombia, Panama and South Korea as a sign of economic progress. And he
   announced a new initiative called the Small Business Network of the
   Americas, designed to support job creation and encourage greater trade
   among small businesses throughout the Western Hemisphere.
   Leaders from 32 Latin American nations have been asserting their
   growing economic independence from the once-dominant United States
   ahead of the Cartegena summit.
   While President Obama remains personally popular throughout the region,
   he is facing growing discontent from his counterparts over a number of
   issues, including Washington's decades-long fight against the illicit
   drug trade and Cuba's continued absence from the summit.
   A growing number of leaders, including the summit's host, Colombian
   President Juan Manuel Santos, have called for decriminalizing drugs in
   order to reduce the demand fueling the violent drug cartels. Dan
   Restrepo, Mr. Obama's national security advisor for Latin America, says
   the president does not support decriminalization but welcomes debate
   over the issue.
   There is also an increasing demand for the U.S. to end its
   five-decade-long embargo on Cuba and allow it to rejoin the
   Organization of American States. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is
   boycotting the summit to protest Cuba's absence from this week's
   summit, and others are warning it should be the last without the
   communist-run island's participation.
   Washington's influence over Latin America has waned since the last
   summit in 2009, as the region increases its economic and diplomatic
   ties with emerging economies such as China and India.

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