In May 2004, after just four months of talks, US and Bahraini trade negotiators concluded a free trade agreement between the two countries. The agreement was signed by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Bahrain’s Minister of Finance and National Economy, Abdulla Hassan Saif, in September 2004.
Ratification and entry into force was to come after Bahrain assured Washington that it "no longer supports a boycott of Israeli goods".
The FTA came into force on 1 August 2006. Two years later, the government claimed that the best impacts of the FTA were boosting Bahrain’s image in the US and speeding up domestic policy changes at home, while critics pointed to the country’s rapidly deteriorating trade surplus with the US. The AFL-CIO has called on the US Administration to withdraw from the agreement over human rights concerns and the mass dismissals of many public sector workers.
last update: May 2012
Photo: Illegally fired public-sector employees protest in Bahrain (Solidarity Center / CC BY-ND 2.0)
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