Egypt: Trading diplomacy

This week the issue of a potential US- Egyptian free trade agreement (FTA) emerged back in the spotlight. Reports coming from Washington suggest that the Bush administration has once again put on hold Egypt’s long aspired to dreams of a bilateral FTA. The reasons offered by the US administration this time, as relayed through trade diplomats and other officials, were not typical complaints over lax governmental efforts to pursue substantial economic reforms, as required by the US administration. Egypt’s slow pace of political reform — as assessed by Washington — is the sticking point now.