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About Hemisphere Trade Services

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The Advocacy Group

Established in 1992, The Advocacy Group, Inc. (TAG) was the first international public affairs and government relations corporation to provide a diverse array of professional advocacy services throughout the world. TAG is an inter-firm network of independent companies organized as a team and focused on solving public affairs and government relations issues. TAG offers businesses and organizations skilled and reputable advice and advocacy on international, federal, state or local legislative, regulatory or political matters. The responsiveness and flexibility within TAG offers a competitive edge to companies utilizing the network.

TAG is a creative solution for businesses needing a presence in single or multiple jurisdictions, providing local expertise along with the synergy of its worldwide network. The TAG network brings together a team of skilled and experienced practitioners and harnesses their intellectual resources to provide professional, customized service. TAG has completed hundreds of projects and created a network of relationships that expand our reach and capability. TAG works with firms in all fifty states, Washington, D.C. and six countries. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with an office in Sacramento, California.

GeorgiaLink Public Affairs Group is the TAG representative in Georgia , and MAPA is the TAG representative at the Federal level. For more on TAG: www.theadvocacygroup.org.

Current News
10.03.08US Congress Extends ATPDEAThe US Congress passed legislation to extend the benefits of the Andean Trade Preference Act to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, which were due to expire at the end of 2008. The extension as to Colombia and Peru expires December 31, 2009 and as to Ecuador and Bolivia expires June 30, 2009, with a possible extension to December 2009 subject to a favorable report by the President of the United States as to the conditions set forth in Section 203 of the Act. See full text of HR7222 Read More
09.18.08Cafta: Trade deal has hidden qualitiesIn May 2004, when government officials from the US, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala gathered in Washington to sign a 2,400-page trade agreement, there was a sense of achievement in the air. Four years later, that early enthusiasm and optimism has come down several notches. Moreover, there have been diverging signals in terms of the benefits. To take just one example, Guatemalan exports grew 6 per cent in 2006, about 7.5 per cent in 2007 and are expected to climb nearly 9 per cent in 2009. Yet imports, which grew 11 per cent in 2006, are predicted to grow almost 15 per cent in 2009. Read More
09.08.08Latin America Wants Free TradeOf the two U.S. presidential candidates, one promises to expand international trading opportunities for American producers and consumers. The other pledges to raise the barriers that Americans already face in global commerce. For Latin America, this is the single most important policy issue in the campaign. If Republican candidate John McCain wins, he says he will lead the Western Hemisphere toward freer trade. Conversely, Democratic candidate Barack Obama has promised that he will craft a U.S. trade policy of greater protectionism against our Latin neighbors. The former agenda will advance regional economic integration, the latter will further Latin American isolation. Read More
08.18.08US Trade Synopsis with Latin America1. US Trade: Colombia Grows Most BUSY PORT: The port of Cartagena, Colombia's largest, is seeing increased traffic thanks to the growing U.S. trade. U.S. trade with Colombia is booming even without a free trade agreement. Overall US trade with Latin America is picking up. Read More
07.30.08Marathon WTO talks collapse in U.S.-India farm rowWorld trade talks collapsed here on Tuesday after seven years of on-again, off-again negotiations, in the latest sign of India’s and China’s growing might on the world stage and the decreasing ability of the United States to impose its will globally. Skip to next paragraph Related World Trade Organization Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA Kamal Nath of India said developing nations were concerned for their poor farmers. Readers' Comments What impact do you think the collapse of World Trade Organization talks will have? Post a Comment » Read All Comments (44) » Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, could not bridge differences between a group of newly confident developing nations and established Western economic powers. In the end, too few of the real power brokers proved committed enough to make compromises necessary to deliver a deal. The failure appeared to end, for the near term at least, any hopes of a global deal to further open markets, cut farm subsidies and strengthen the international trading system. Read More
07.04.08Latin America Policy at a CrossroadsSen. John McCain's trip to Colombia and Mexico this week made one thing clear: The shape of the United States' relationship with Latin America will hinge on the outcome of the 2008 election. The Republican presidential candidate and his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, have outlined sharply contrasting visions of how they would conduct relations in the hemisphere. McCain is committed to putting a new emphasis on the region but would pursue many of the policies followed by President Bush in Latin America, with a heavy emphasis on counternarcotics efforts, free trade and a push to curb illegal immigration. Obama has sketched a broad approach that relies more on diplomatic efforts and expression of soft power, through more foreign assistance, an infusion of Peace Corps volunteers and a willingness to meet with hard-line leftist leaders. Dan Lund, a longtime Mexico City-based pollster, said that "there is a big difference" between the two candidates. "It's easy with McCain -- he's clearly going to pursue, without exceptions, the Bush administration line, including the policy toward Cuba," Lund said in an interview. "The Democrats are kind of a mystery. They'll want to loosen things, and they won't want to fight with everybody like Bush did." Read More
06.31.08The Bank for International Settllements (BIS) Annual ReportThe 78th Annual Report of the Bank for International Settlements for the financial year which began on 1 April 2007 and ended on 31 March 2008 was submitted to the Bank's Annual General Meeting held in Basel on 30 June 2008. Of special note in this web site is its chapter on Emerging Market Economies, whose Abstract, Highlights and Macroeconomic Developments we are presenting under the READ MORE link. For the full Annual Report go to http://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2008e.htm Read More