ISDS Case Map
agriculture | farmers | food
plus livestock, forestry, etc
An Economist Intelligence Unit briefing paper
The US Trade Representative (USTR), raising doubts about South Korea's commitment to a bilateral free trade agreement, pressed the Asian trading partner Tuesday to be "unambiguous" in supporting it.
As senior bureaucrats from Thailand and the US prepare to enter the fifth round of negotiations over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Hawaii later this month, two Thai organic farmers have started their own campaign in the US. Phakpum Inpaen and Kanya Onsri from Surin province left Thailand yesterday on a 23-day circuit tour to talk to people in the US about how the FTA deal will threaten their survival.
Nine months into the first experiment in free trade with the United States, few participating manufacturers have reported a jump in production - most haven't shipped unit one.
The Thai government should seek a consensus from the public before signing a free trade area (FTA) agreement with the United States, according to a leading academic.
The free trade agreement with the United States threatens Thailand's ecological biodiversity and cultural uniqueness, researchers warned yesterday. Visut Baimai, director of the Biodiversity Research and Training Programme, said he feared the FTA would accelerate deforestation to grow profitable single-crop plantations. This, he said, could undermine both the ecosystem and sustainable economic development.
On liberalising services and investment, Thailand insists on adopting a "positive list" approach, where only those sectors explicitly outlined in the agreement would be opened. The US insists on a "negative list", under which all sectors are on the table except those listed as sensitive.
The feared "demise" of the Benguet vegetable industry due to the free trade agreement looms. Growers expressed this fear when vegetables from Benguet were not excluded from the Early Harvest Program (EHP) signed by the Chinese and Philippine governments.
This booklet by FTA Watch is aimed at disseminating information to international
civil society for the purpose of sharing the analyses and experience of the
FTA struggle in Thailand.
The leader of Mexico's largest farm union has demanded a review of the North American Free Trade Agreement before final tariff reductions take effect in 2008.
