QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - U.S. business leaders Wednesday expressed confidence that Brazil would eventually join the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, even though it was adopting a tough negotiating strategy.
Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he thought Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had sent clear signs he was open to the pact as a way to boost exports and spur growth in Latin America's largest economy.
"It's good negotiating strategy to start out on one side, (saying) how difficult it's going to be to get me to the table," Donohue told reporters in Quito.
The chamber's chairman, Larry A. Liebenow, said there was interest among Brazil's business community for a deal, and added that U.S. and Brazilian business leaders had made progress in parallel talks for the FTAA -- which would start tearing down trade barriers from Alaska to Argentina by 2005.
Brazil, home to 170 million consumers, has insisted that it wants a free trade accord -- but only if it would open protected U.S. industries, including sugar and citrus, to competition from the South American giant.
The president-elect, known universally as Lula, declared during his campaign for office that the Americas-wide free trade zone would result in the "annexation" of the Brazilian economy. But, in another sign that he is softening his stance on the FTAA, Lula decided to send a delegate to Quito for a one-day ministerial meeting Friday.
At the meeting, the United States and Brazil will be announced co-chairs for the final stretch of negotiations -- which propose to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement to unite 34 countries in the Americas, with the notable exception of Cuba.
Without referring to Brazil, which he expected to join the accord, Donohue said believed that FTAA would become a reality whether or not every country in Latin America joined the ambitious trade zone. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who barely survived an April coup, strongly opposes the FTAA -- saying the United States would swallow developing nations.
"Everybody can find a seat on the bus. But when the bus is ready to leave, if two or three or four countries out of a whole hemisphere decide that they're not ready, it's not in their interest, they don't want to play in the game, then they can stand by the side of the road when the bus leaves," Donohue said.
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