ECUADOR: DEMARCHE ON WTO DOHA INDUSTRIAL GOODS

UNCLAS QUITO 002221 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS USTR WASHINGTON (CMORROW),USTR GENEVA (LMOLAR),USDOC (JJANICKE AND EDUNN),STATE/EEB (ASCHEIBE),AND TREASURY (WSCHALL) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON WTRO EC SUBJECT: ECUADOR: DEMARCHE ON WTO DOHA INDUSTRIAL GOODS TARIFF NEGOTIATIONS REF: A. STATE 131348 ¶B. QUITO 2019 ¶1. (SBU) EconCouns presented reftel A demarche regarding proposed approach for non-agricultural market access (NAMA) for small, vulnerable economies to Mentor Villagomez, Under Secretary for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ecuadorian SIPDIS Foreign Ministry. Villagomez said that Ecuador's initial reaction to the proposal is that it is "not bad" for Ecuador, but that Ecuador would have to continue to analyze the proposal. ¶2. (U) Villagomez said that he would have to consult with his colleagues at the Ministry of Industries regarding the specific tariff line impacts that the proposal would have, but noted that Ecuador had recently lowered approximately 1,400 tariff lines to zero. (As noted in reftel B, Ecuador is reducing 1,957 tariff lines to either zero or five percent, from the previous levels which had ranged from 2-20 percent.) ¶3. (SBU) Villagomez added that Ecuador is also interested in how it can address its offensive NAMA interests in the Doha Round, noting as an example that it wants the European Union to lower its tariff on Ecuadorian canned tuna (currently over 20 percent) and to use "GSP-plus" as the starting point for negotiations. JEWELL