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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

Africa still the odd one out
8-Sep-2011     IPS
While globally trade agreements are more and more about linking production chains between countries and continents, Africa remains locked in a struggle to overcome the colonial legacy of fragmentation, trade experts say.
Some see trade deals as threatening state laws
22-Aug-2011     AP
In Vermont, Maine and other states, there's growing concern that free trade agreements could undermine states' authority in a host of areas, ranging from the regulation of groundwater extraction by bottled water companies, to negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs, to issuance of state approval for a takeover of an electric utility by a foreign-owned company.
US may ratchet up FTA drive amid economic woes: experts
10-Aug-2011     Yonhap
"The US has no viable options at the moment to prevent a further slowdown in the economy," said Kim Han-seong, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). "The only answer is free trade deals, and the US is now forced to seek free trade deals aggressively."
Free trade agreements: The dangerous new frontier
5-Aug-2011     People's Democracy
FTAs are worse than the WTO because they demand much more, writes Amit Sengupta
US Senators reach compromise on free trade deals
4-Aug-2011     VoA
US Senate leaders have reached a potential bipartisan compromise on three long-delayed free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.
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.

Referenced sites

Third World Network

TWN's website is a good source of information and analysis about what's happening within the multilateral trade system (WTO, UNCTAD, G77, etc).

WorldTradeLaw.net

WorldTradeLaw.net offers a free library of current trade news and resources; a database of dispute settlement tables and statistics; and a user-friendly sear...