ISDS Case Map
MEFTA
US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement
Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) the United States signs with countries in the Middle East and North Africa help realize the vision of a regional free trade area integrated with global economy, US officials say.
In 2003 President George W Bush proposed a US-Middle East free trade agreement (FTA) to bring “an expanding circle of opportunity” to the region. This new book from the Peterson Institute examines whether an FTA can achieve this goal and the trajectory for a likely agreement.
In a replay of congressional efforts last year that foiled a bid by a Chinese company to buy a US oil firm, a group of hawkish US lawmakers, citing national security concerns, are trying to block a deal that gives a major Arab company control over a British firm that runs some US ports.
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration has placed democratization and reform in the Middle East at the top of its agenda. While press reports have focused on political developments, another key component to the American strategy entails encouraging economic growth, modernization, and liberalization throughout the region.
According to US Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Shaun Donnelly, the only Arab country under consideration for beginning FTA talks before the summer of 2007 is Egypt.
The Bush administration is pushing a spate of free trade agreements with its allies in the Middle East that mostly lack input from marginalised local communities or civil society groups.
Arabs attending a conference in Bahrain blasted yesterday Washington's "Big Brother" attitude in bilateral Free Trade Agreements, saying they are political tools to serve US interests rather than enhance economic prosperity in the region.
"Entering into an FTA with Oman will build on the FTAs that we already have with Israel, Jordan, and Morocco, as well as the FTA that we have concluded with Bahrain, and will be an important step on the path to fulfilling my vision of developing economic growth and democracy in the Middle East and creating a US Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013."
Nineteen societies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have rapped moves to normalise relations with Israel and called for joint national and regional efforts to abort the US-initiated Broader Middle East project.
An assessment published by a US military research outfit.
