Ecuador and China have signed a free trade agreement, deepening ties between the Andean nation and the world’s second-biggest economy and frustrating US opposition to Beijing’s growing influence in the region.The deal would boost Ecuador’s non-oil exports by $3bn-$4bn, or as much as a third, over the next 10 years, according to the trade ministry. China is Ecuador’s largest non-oil trade partner and has become an increasingly important source of financing for the Latin American nation, where it has backed infrastructure and energy.
The free trade agreement could dismay the US, which has sought to counter Beijing’s growing influence in Latin America. China already has free trade agreements with Peru, Chile and Costa Rica. The US is Ecuador’s largest trading partner when including oil, the country’s biggest export.
The free trade agreement, which still needs to be ratified by Ecuador’s national assembly, allows preferential access for 99 per cent of exports to China, the government said, in particular agricultural and agro-industrial products including shrimp, bananas, cut flowers, cocoa and coffee. It excludes 800 products to protect local manufacturing.