ISDS Case Map
Australia
TWO new developments have raised alarm bells about the free trade agreement between Australia and the US.
TO laugh or to cry? That is the question. Do you laugh at the increasingly ludicrous attempts by defenders of the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement to explain away the results of the FTA's operation since it came into effect on January 1 last year?
There are calls today for Australia to scrap the free trade agreement.
The US Sugar Alliance, representing cane and beet farmers, says it will lobby strongly against any further opening of the US market to Australian sugar. Meantime, there are calls today for Australia to scrap the free trade agreement.
Australia will urge the US to prise open its lucrative sugar markets as part of a fresh push to improve access for farmers under the free trade deal. The Howard Government's renewed attempt to secure a better deal from the free trade agreement came as Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile defended lopsided results from the first year of the pact.
The government has blamed a stronger currency and increased competition from Asia for a disappointing first year in Australia's new trade pact with the United States.
Government figures show Australian exports to the US have fallen since the US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into force a year ago. In the 12 months to October last year, Australian exports to the United States fell by 4.7 per cent while US imports rose by 5.7 per cent.
The debate over the cost of medicines in Australia took a new twist today, with Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile declaring the Government will have a second look at provisions within the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. They're provisions that were specifically designed to keep the cost of pharmaceuticals down.
The National Farmers Federation (NFF) is still backing the Australia-US free trade agreement, despite poor terms of trade in its first year of operation.
Japan is likely to pursue free-trade agreements with China and India as well as Australia to give it more clout in a proposed East Asian community, a leading Japanese daily reported on Tuesday.
