Peru Gets Green Light on Trade Pact

Peru and the United States signed a freetrade agreement April 12 in Washington, D.C., which will allow Peru’s goods into the United States without being subject to duties or quotas.

That was good news for Peru’s apparel industry, which exported $793 million in clothing to the United States for the year ending Feb. 28, 2006. About 65 percent of the country’s apparel exports to the United States were cotton knit tops, followed by cotton trousers and man-made-fiber knit tops. —Deborah Belgum