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Free Trade Area of the Americas
The Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA (in Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas, ALCA; in French: Zone de libre-échange des Amériques, ZLEA; in Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas, ALCA) is a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce trade barriers among all nations in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba. In the latest round of negotiations, officials of 34 nations met in Miami on November 16, 2003 to discuss the proposal. The proposed agreement would be modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations seek expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property rights, while less developed nations seek an end to agricultural subsidies and freer trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil has taken a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States has taken a similar role for the developed nations.
Talks began with the Summit of the Americas in Miami in April 1994, but the FTAA was brought to public attention during the Quebec City Summit of the Americas in 2001, a meeting targeted by massive anti-corporatization and anti-globalization protests.
In previous negotiations, the United States has pushed for a single comprehensive agreement that would reduce trade barriers for goods, while increasing intellectual property protection. Specific intellectual property protections could include Digital Millennium Copyright Act-style copyright protections, similar to the US-Australia free trade agreement. Another protection would likely restrict the reimportation or cross-importation of pharmecuticals, similar to the proposed agreement between the US and Canada.
Brazil has proposed a measured, three-track approach that calls for a series of bilateral agreements to reduce specific tariffs on goods, and a hemispheric pact on rules of origin and dispute resolution processes. Brazil seeks to omit more controversial issues from the agreement, leaving them to the WTO.
Related articles
External links
- The official home page of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process
- Indymedia FTAA News
- Background information about the FTAA and public participation
- PDF Comparing the official agreement and alternative visions
- Stop FTAA
- Stop The FTAA, By the John Birch Society, a right-wing alternative opposition
- FTAA Resistance
- Media Gallery of the FTAA Protests
- "The Miami Model" Documentary
- BBC News - The battle over trade
- Midwest Unrest
Articles and papers
- Canada, Chile thwart U.S.-Brazilian plan - AP news article
- FoodFirst.org Institute for Food and Development Policy - Myths of the FTAA
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