[REUTERS] The head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday he would seek to end preferential trade access for Ecuadorean goods if the South American nation offers political asylum to runaway former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the foreign relations panel, warned in a statement that accepting Snowden "would severely jeopardize" preferential trade access the United States provides to Ecuador under two programs that expire next month.
"Our government will not reward countries for bad behavior," Menendez said.
Snowden was in hiding on Wednesday at an airport in Moscow awaiting a ruling on his request for asylum from the South American country's leftist government. The United States wants him extradited to face charges that he stole and leaked details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs. |