Negociando Tratados de Inversión y Comercio bajo un régimen de Dolarización

Abstract

Ecuador’s economic situation is not only not improving, but it’s sensibly deteriorating as the current government’s policies move forward, just a bit over two years after being elected. In its desperation to offer a solution to such a situation, the current government has gone back to measures that were considered to be part of Ecuador’s economic past, such as rescue loans from the IMF, or applying anti-cyclical austerity measures such as reducing the size of the state and firing public workers; when the real problem is the lack of understanding and technical expertise of the current government officers, specifically about managing a dollarized economy. Now the discussions have turned towards free trade and investment agreements, as if that was the missing piece of the puzzle. This work will demonstrate why a regular Trade and Investment agreement would not be the cornucopia promised by the government, indeed it would be quite the opposite; as well as offering a constructive solution regarding how a dollarized should negotiate this kind of agreements.