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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

A trade barrier to defeating AIDS
27-Jul-2011     NY Times
The new strategy is to treat people in Egypt, Paraguay, Turkmenistan or China — middle-income countries, all — as if they or their governments could pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year each for AIDS drugs.
The Wrong Way to Free Trade
25-Jul-2011    
Late last week, a longstanding debate over free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama — deals that were negotiated under President George W. Bush but never finalized — stalled once again. President Obama supports the agreements, but only if more retraining for workers is part of the deal, a condition Republican leaders are resisting.
WTO Chief Blasts Small Pacts, Says They Hamper Global Opportunities
21-Jul-2011    
The World Trade Organization's chief on Wednesday took aim at the growing number of small free-trade deals being signed among the group's 153 member nations, saying such deals could limit opportunities with countries outside the group.
Free-trade agreements said to be delayed by Obama amid worker-aid dispute
21-Jul-2011     Bloomberg
President Barack Obama will delay sending free-trade agreements to Congress until lawmakers return from an August recess as a dispute with Republicans over a worker-aid program remains unresolved, according to people familiar with the decision.
The audacity of free trade agreements
18-Jul-2011     FPIF
As the US economy struggles to regain its footing, the best way to rebuild stability is to learn from mistakes of the past and strive for greater equity. A necessary step is to reject the Colombia, South Korea, and Panama Free Trade Agreements.
Free-trade deals would be costly to US
9-Jul-2011    
For over a decade, the labor movement and development advocates have called for fair-trade policy that is part of a more coordinated and coherent national economic strategy. Unfortunately, the Korean, Colombian and Panamanian free-trade deals before Congress do not address the fundamental policy failures of the North American Free Trade Agreement and China's inclusion into "favored nation status," which has led to catastrophic job loss in the U.S. and the explosion of our import/export deficit, now reaching $500 billion annually.
GOP calls free trade talks "noxious," blocks deals
2-Jul-2011    
Senate Republicans today said discussions with Democrats over three pending free trade agreements have become so "noxious" that they've decided to block them.
Obama trade accord with Congress touted as Republicans balk at worker aid
30-Jun-2011     Bloomberg
The Obama administration announced an agreement for Congress to act on stalled trade accords with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, as Republicans balked at plans to incorporate aid to displaced U.S. workers.
Administration wants to send trade pacts to Congress before recess
21-Jun-2011    
The Obama administration hopes to send all three pending free trade agreements — Colombia, Panama, and Korea — to Congress before the August recess.
Machinists union launches fair trade campaign on Facebook
9-Jun-2011    
Countering GOP demands for the passage of three seriously-flawed trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) today launched a targeted, informational ad campaign on Facebook.