ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
Countries making up the South African Customs (SACU) Union have signed a preferential trade agreement with Mercosur, South America's trading bloc. However, trade negotiations with the US have run into problems.
Activists and academics are singing the requiem for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a US-driven initiative that they say will soon be buried. However, the governments that have participated in the talks are not yet talking about failure.
Mercosur and European Union negotiators resumed Monday in Brussels discussions with the purpose of reaching a much delayed free trade agreement between the two blocks. Meantime in New Delhi a framework trade understanding was signed with India.
India has signed a free trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc to boost trade. The trade agreement flows from the customs duty accord and now grants reciprocal tariff reductions on 450 items and greater market access.
Caricom and Mercosur officials held talks Friday about establishing a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
United States is not interested in reaching an agreement with Mercosur and prefers to concentrate in the Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, said Peter Allgeier Washington's Trade Representative.
The fifth annual World Social Forum will take place Jan. 26-31 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre amidst an upsurge in Latin American sub-regional integration efforts, bolstered by the obvious failure of the project to create the hemisphere-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
This report looks at major Customs Unions, Free Trade Areas, and economic
association agreements around the world, with particular attention to any clauses
covering social issues, core labour standards and trade union participation.
South Korea and Brazil have agreed to launch a joint feasibility study into signing a Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the South American common market of Mercosur.
Declaration from the Social Movements and Civil Society organisationss from the Mercosu
