Number: RS21846 Title: Proposed U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Authors: Martin A. Weiss, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Abstract: U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick signed the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on September 14, 2004. The implementing legislation was passed by the House on December 7, 2005, and passed by the Senate and cleared for the White House on December 13, 2005. The agreement was signed into law by the President on January 11, 2006, as the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (P.L. 109-169). Under the agreement, all bilateral trade in consumer and industrial goods will be duty free and 98% of U.S. agricultural exports will be duty free. The FTA is to support economic reform, both within Bahrain, and throughout the Middle East. Pages: 6 Date: April 18, 2007