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  1. Negotiations

:: Across the board ::


This section contains news and analysis of sweeping developments that affect the overall push and pull towards FTAs and bilateral investment treaties. This means major trends relating to bilateralism, often with global consequences, and other cross-cutting issues. New developments arising from US politics, the WTO or South-South alliance-building, for instance, are often reported here as they tend to have systemic impacts.

last update: May 2012

Not a hacker or whistleblower? Here's how you can still liberate secret documents
3-Feb-2014     Waging Nonviolence
When there are documents that the public has a right to know about, we have a right to go take them, writes Daniel Hunter
Harry Reid deals body blow to Obama on trade
30-Jan-2014     WSJ
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke publicly with the White House Wednesday on trade policy, instantly imperiling two major international trade deals and punching a hole in one piece of the economic agenda the president outlined in his State of the Union address a day earlier.
US trade debate prompts fears of delay in talks
20-Jan-2014     FT
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mexico’s economy minister said governments in the TPP talks were unlikely to offer any significant concessions until they were sure Mr Obama had fast-track authority. A senior EU official said officials in Brussels were bracing for a TPA debate that could last through this year and inevitably affect TTIP negotiations.
US lawmakers propose fast-track bill for trade agreements
10-Jan-2014     Reuters
US lawmakers on Thursday proposed a bill to give the White House power to fast-track international trade agreements as the United States gears up for a hectic year of trade negotiations.
Business groups back Obama on trade amid historic debate
6-Jan-2014     Bloomberg
Some of the largest US business groups are lining up behind President Barack Obama to pressure Congress to clear the way for a pair of trade deals that could set rules for more than half the world’s economy.
TPP, TTIP could alter US textile & apparel trade
5-Jan-2014     Fibre2fashion
From the view of the textiles and apparel industries, all eyes will be on whether a yarn-forward provision has been included or not in the final documents.
Economy for life in our Earth community
20-Dec-2013     Focus
This living document is a result of an extensive process led by the Social Movements for an Alternative Asia (SMAA), Gerak Lawan, La Via Campesina and the supporters of the #EndWTO Campaign.
Debate over proposed global trade agreements
19-Dec-2013     Diane Rehm Show
The pros and cons of two trade agreements in the works, TPP and TTIP, from a US perspective.
'Free trade' and the death of democracy
18-Dec-2013     Al Jazeera
If these deals come into effect, multinational corporations will be empowered to regulate democratic states, rather than the other way around.
US Congress could OK trade promotion bill in early 2014, lawmaker says
11-Dec-2013     Reuters
he Obama administration could secure "fast-track" trade promotion authority from Congress early next year, a leading lawmaker said on Tuesday, handing it the means to secure two big new trade deals.