Ammon News - The Jordan- U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) represents a true success story that brought many economic benefits to the Kingdom, the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Chairman Khalil Haj Tawfiq said.

The ACC Chairman said that the United States is one of Jordan's most prominent trading partners, noting that the FTA has been a powerful tool to spur the current $2.2 billion US investments in the Kingdom, and cement bilateral business relations in commercial, service, agricultural and tourism fields to support Jordan’s recovery process after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He pointed to His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts to strengthen economic relations with the U.S. through signing the FTA, which at the time was the first U.S. FTA with an Arab country.

"The FTA further consolidated special ties between the two countries, expanded two-way trade by tangible figures, maximized export opportunities, and attracted non-US investments," he added.

Haj Tawfiq indicated that Jordan's food imports from the US market contribute to enhancing the Kingdom's strategic stockpile of food and basic commodities, especially wheat, rice, poultry, corn, nuts and canned goods, urging the agricultural sector to take advantage if the FTA through the "halal industries", as the Muslim population in the United States is developing a strong market presence.

An ACC statistical report on the Jordan-U.S. trade relations indicated that the two countries' trade exchanges have progressed at an upward rate since 2014 until today, with Jordanian exports climbing from JD848 million in 2014 to JD1,220 billion in 2020.

According to the report, Jordanian exports to the US market include textile materials, medicines, metal products, air-conditioning machines, jewelry, food industry products, transportation equipment and live animal products, while the imports include metal products, transportation equipment, machinery, electrical appliances, grains, chemical products, medical devices, food, animal products, furniture, used clothing, vegetable oils and fats, and wood.

(Petra)