Thirteen current and former government officials in Venezuela are designated for sanctions that freeze their U.S. assets and bar U.S. persons from doing business with them. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added 13...
Venezuelan Trade Dilemma: Lift GDP or Lower Inflation?
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Latin American team reports Venezuelan GDP has slowed to 1.1% in the third quarter from 2.6% in the second quarter. The EIU analysts are particularly struck by a third-quarter contraction in Venezuelan imports of goods and services of...
China’s LATAM Connection
China hitches its growth to emerging market economies The recent HVAC Online story (in which Datamyne stats are cited) on the heat-driven spurt in Colombian imports of Chinese mini split ACs reminds us again just how much and how quickly China has invested itself in...
Talking Trade with Colombia
Gauging the odds on an FTA, counting lost-opportunity costs In February, the Obama administration pledged to “intensify” talks with Colombia on the free trade agreement initially negotiated by the US in 2006. Now Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), who is leading a trade...
An End to the 16-Year Banana War?
Pending trade deal gives an edge to Latin America in the EU Well-intentioned it may have been, but the EU’s 1993 decision to slap tariffs on bananas from Latin America while allowing bananas from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to enter its markets...
Colombia-Venezuela Thaw Continues
But unfreezing trade will take time We’ve written before on the diplomatic tit-for-tat that virtually shut down commerce between Colombia and Venezuela. After the erstwhile trading partners called it quits in July 2009, binational trade fell by more than 60%. One year...
Refresh 9/22/10
… recent developments in stories we’ve covered … Tug of War over PotashCorp BHP bid signals realignment in global N-P-K sector posted August 31st 2010 Update: Saskatchewan-based PotashCorp has filed suit against Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton in a U.S. district court...
What a Difference a Trade War Can Make
Miami Herald taps Datamyne to gauge impact of Colombia-Venezuela feud The Miami Herald’s Jim Wyss writes today about the likelihood that Venezuela and Colombia can end the rift that’s caused commerce between the erstwhile trading partners to tumble 70%. As Wyss notes,...