(Es) (Ecuador) Ecuador-China Free Trade Agreement

The Ecuador-China Free Trade Agreement, signed in May 2023, is the first trade agreement Ecuador has established with an Asian country. After four rounds of negotiations held in 2022, a state-of-the-art treaty was agreed upon that includes a chapter on e-commerce, making Ecuador the first Latin American country to incorporate it into an agreement with China. In 2022, trade between the two countries reached $12 billion. The FTA contemplates the liberalization of 99.6% of Ecuadorian exports to a market of 1.4 billion consumers, representing a key opportunity to improve access to this market, strengthen competitiveness against neighboring countries, and expand the exportable supply. The agreement is pending review by the Constitutional Court and approval by the National Assembly before entering into force.