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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 tsunami of trade agreements: Reflections on 20 years of resistance
12-Nov-2024     bilaterals.org
As trade justice activists, we must be at the forefront of collective organising and mobilising for a new trade system that addresses pressing global challenges.
Twenty years of bilaterals.org, twenty years of fighting FTAs
4-Nov-2024     bilaterals.org
When bilaterals.org was set up back in 2004, the world looked rather different. What has changed?
There are no free lunches in trade deals
13-Sep-2024     Foreign Policy
How to cut through the PR and understand an agreement.
NFUniversity: Colonial roots of modern free trade agreements
9-Sep-2024     NFU
This talk explored the colonial origins of modern international trade. Geopolitics, power relations, and corporate interests have shaped trade rules for over 500 years before it reached its current form.
The two faces of free trade
8-Mar-2024     Project Syndicate
Whereas free trade was once the central cause of progressive reformers seeking to combat entrenched interests on behalf of ordinary people, now it is the bête noire of both right-wing nationalists and the mainstream left. To understand why attitudes changed so radically, one must follow the money.
Explainer: Free trade zones and free trade agreements
24-Nov-2023     bilaterals.org
Free trade agreements, free trade zones and special economic zones are all designed to promote business-friendly regulations and encourage economic liberalisation, but they are different in nature.
The bare truths about FTAs
2-Dec-2022     The Hindu BusinessLine
That much of world trade happens through free trade agreements and these help boost exports are among myths that need to be busted.
Physical space in a digital world
20-Jun-2022     Font
Community radio spaces like CKUT have worked to deepen and reorient the mainstream political conversation in profound ways, slowly shifting the focus toward voices calling for transformative social change and justice.
Carlos Vicente: A “man-tree”
25-Mar-2022    
GRAIN and bilaterals.org are heartbroken to announce the passing of our brother, comrade and colleague, Carlos Vicente.
FTAs need a cautious approach
7-Sep-2021     BusinessLine
The findings of the US Congress-commissioned report, The Economic Impact of Trade Agreements, provide insights for countries currently negotiating more than a hundred FTAs.

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...