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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

Firsthand look at FTA’s
31-Mar-2011     Line on Agriculture
A group of farmers and ranchers from the US’s largest farm organization will be heading to South and Central America to show support for pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama.
Caterpillar CEO urges Congress to enact FTAs with Panama, South Korea, Colombia
31-Mar-2011     RTT News
Oberhelman noted that since the FTAs with Mexico, Chile, Central America, the Dominican Republic and Peru went into effect, Caterpillar exports have increased substantially to those regions of the world, with exports up fivefold to Mexico, threefold to Chile and up by more than 60 percent to Peru.
More free trade agreements? When NAFTA failed?
21-Mar-2011     Huffington Post
With the Republicans and the Obama administration attempting to rush headlong into a new trade agreements with Korea, and possibly also with Panama and Colombia, it is incumbent on Americans to apply a bit of empiricism. How have our past trade agreements worked out? Above all, how's the grand-daddy of them all, NAFTA, doing?
Senate Republicans link nominations to sending Korea, Colombia, Panama FTAs together
15-Mar-2011    
Republican senators Monday pressed President Obama to send Congress the pending free trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia at the same time, threatening to block his nominations for commerce secretary and other officials otherwise.
China in talks over Panama Canal rival
15-Feb-2011     Financial Times
China is in talks to build an alternative to the Panama Canal that would link Colombia’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail – a move that Bogotá also hopes will spur Washington to push for Congressional approval of a US-Colombia free-trade pact.
US aims Latam trade accords to Congress by mid-year
15-Feb-2011     Reuters
President Barack Obama's administration aims to send stalled free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama to Congress by the middle of this year after fresh analysis of the situation in both countries, a senior US official said on Monday.
US to press South Korea, Panama, Colombia and Russian trade
9-Feb-2011     Reuters
Apart from passage of the three pending FTAs, the White House also wants Congress to remove a Cold War-era stain on relations with Russia by approving "permanent normal trade relations."
Business as usual - How free trade agreements jeopardise financial sector reform
31-Jan-2011     SOMO
In contrast with the current wide-ranging financial reform agenda in the European Union, the EU continues to liberalise a wide range of risky and non-risky financial services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and other Free Trade Agreements as if the financial crisis never happened. This SOMO briefing paper gives specific examples on how new EU regulations are in contrast with the pre-crisis model that is still being applied in the GATS negotiations, the Cariforum-EU Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU-South Korea FTA.
US: More than 250 economists call for trade reforms to allow capital controls
31-Jan-2011     IPS
In a letter delivered January 31, more than 250 economists urged the Obama administration to reform US trade rules that restrict the use of capital controls.
Spate of trade deals move toward passage
30-Jan-2011     IPS
On the heels of US President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday in which he focused squarely on resuscitating the economy, pressure is mounting in the nation's capital to move forward with free trade agreements (FTAs) whose passage would promote exports and create jobs.

Referenced sites

21st Century Trade Agreements: Implications for Long-Run Development Policy

A publication of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The paper examines the policy space available under various free t...

#A18DoA - Global day of action to defeat free trade and investment treaties

Website for the global day of action to defeat free trade and investment treaties #A18DoA

Alianza Social Continental

La Alianza Social Continental es un foro de organizaciones y movimientos sociales progresistas de las Américas, creado para intercambiar información, definir...

ICC

International Chamber of Commerce

Movimientos.org

A multilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) website focusing on social movements and their campaigns, including those against bilateral and regional FTAs.

Pambazuka

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other e...

People over profit

People Over Profit is a campaign network that unites peoples movements and NGOs across the globe to stop free trade agreements (FTAs) and corporate plunder, ...

Peoples Global Action

In February 1998, movements from all continents met in Geneva to launch a worldwide coordination of resistances to the global market, a new alliance of strug...

Regional/Multilateral Integration Agreements

Selected research papers on regional trade agreements, from internationaleconomics.net

SOMO

SOMO links the negotiations and rules on international trade and investment with the actual conduct of corporations within these rules and agreements.

South Centre

An intergovernmental organisation of developing countries

Stop fast track!

10 days to stop fast track in the United States: Jan 22 - 31 2014