ISDS Case Map
agriculture | farmers | food
plus livestock, forestry, etc
Now is also the time to redouble our struggle against FTAs and EPAs, and against the WTO, but this time more clearly indicating the central role played by the TNCs.
These free trade agreements that the US government is continuing to negotiate, most of the emphasis is usually on the industrial-in the trade in consumer goods, but not in the impact on farming. In the debate this week, for instance, Barack Obama made a distinction that he opposed the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, but he supported the Peru Free Trade Agreement, because it had supposed labor safeguards in it. What is the impact of these free trade agreements on farming in this country, as well as in the other countries that are a part, signatories?
One of the non-negotiable elements in the flurry of free trade agreements (FTAs) signed over the last decade or currently being negotiated is that the international flow of goods cannot be controlled or restricted in any way.
Instead of signing the EPAs, Mr. Amoak would like to see his government implement measures to keep foreign rice out of the country.
India has asked the Asian Development Bank to contribute to a fund to help compensate industries in the country, such as pepper growers in Kerala, that are adversely hit by the market-opening free trade agreements with several Asian countries.
Peasant farmers and some civil society groups in Ghana have called on African Ministers and negotiators to reject the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.
Tea used to be Kenya's major cash crop earner but ever since the world's largest consumer of tea, Pakistan, entered into a free trade agreement with seven of its Asian neighbours, the local tea industry has been haemorrhaging.
The United States' dairy industry is more open to a free trade deal with New Zealand than in the past, US trade representative Susan Schwab says.
The US National Milk Producers Federation said today it would seek the full exclusion of New Zealand's dairy products under the newly-announced Transpacific free trade agreement. This stance is because of the New Zealand dairy industry's unique structure and excessive manipulation of dairy markets globally and in the US.
The New Zealand National Party's trade spokesman Tim Groser believes the dairy sector is likely to emerge as the big winner from the United States' decision to negotiate a free trade pact with New Zealand and three other countries because the deal could break down strict tariff barriers for dairy products entering the US. He also predicts Australia will want to get involved in the deal.
