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Free Trade Area of the Americas

February 15, 2024

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas, excluding Cuba. Negotiations to establish the FTAA ended in failure, however, with all parties unable to reach an agreement by the 2005 deadline they had set for themselves.

The Free Trade Area of the Americas logo, representing the Americas as geometric figures

History edit

In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, Florida, in the United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal.[1] The proposed agreement was an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations sought expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property rights, while less developed nations sought an end to agricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil took a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States took a similar role for the developed nations.

Origins edit

Discussions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas began at the first Summit of the Americas in Miami on December 11, 1994. The FTAA came to public attention during the third summit, held in Quebec City in 2001, as the meeting was targeted by large anti-corporatization and anti-globalization protests. The Miami negotiations in 2003 met similar protests, though not as large.

Disagreements edit

In previous negotiations, the United States had pushed for a single comprehensive agreement to 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 U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Another protection would likely have restricted the importation or cross importation of pharmaceuticals, similar to the proposed agreement between the United States and Canada. Brazil posed a three-track approach that called for a series of bilateral agreements to reduce specific tariffs on goods, a hemispheric pact on rules of origin, and a dispute resolution process Brazil proposed to omit the more controversial issues from the FTA, leaving them to the WTO.

The location of the FTA Secretariat was to have been determined in 2005. The contending cities were: Atlanta, Chicago, Galveston, Houston, San Juan, and Miami in the United States; Cancún and Puebla in Mexico; Panama City, Panama; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The U.S. city of Colorado Springs also submitted its candidacy in the early days but subsequently withdrew.[2] Miami, Panama City and Puebla served successively an interim secretariat headquarters during the negotiation process.

The last summit was held at Mar del Plata, Argentina, in November 2005, but no agreement on FTA was reached. Of the 39 countries present at the negotiations, 20 pledged to meet again in 2006 to resume negotiations, but no meeting took place. The failure of the Mar del Plata summit to establish a comprehensive FTA agenda augured poorly.

Current status edit

The FTAA missed the targeted deadline of 2005, which followed the stalling of useful negotiations of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005.[3] Over the next few years, some governments, most notably the United States, not wanting to lose any chance of hemispheric trade expansion moved in the direction of establishing a series of bilateral trade deals. The leaders planned further discussions at the 6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia in 2012, but these discussions did not take place.[4][5]

As of 2022, U.S. trade policy neglected Latin America in favor of competition with China after failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and resolving disputes with the European Union.[6]

Membership edit

The following countries were planned to be part of the Free Trade Area of the Americas:[7]

Support and opposition edit

A vocal critic of the FTAA was Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who has described it as an "annexation plan" and a "tool of imperialism" for the exploitation of Latin America.[8] As a counterproposal to this initiative, Chávez promoted the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alianza Bolivariana para las Américas, ALBA) which emphasizes energy and infrastructure agreements.[8] Evo Morales of Bolivia has referred to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, as "an agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas".[9]

On the other hand, the then presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentina, Néstor Kirchner, have stated that they do not oppose the FTAA but they do demand that the agreement provide for the elimination of U.S. agriculture subsidies, the provision of effective access to foreign markets and further consideration towards the needs and sensibilities of its members.[10]

One of the most contentious issues of the treaty proposed by the United States is with concerns to patents and copyrights. Critics claim that if the measures proposed by the United States were implemented and applied this would reduce scientific research in Latin America. On the Council of Canadians web site, Barlow wrote: "This agreement sets enforceable global rules on patents, copyrights and trademark. It has gone far beyond its initial scope of protecting original inventions or cultural products and now permits the practice of patenting plants and animal forms as well as seeds. It promotes the private rights of corporations over local communities and their genetic heritage and traditional medicines".[11]

On the weekend of April 20, 2001, the 3rd Summit of the Americas was a summit held in Quebec City, Canada. This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed FTAA.

Agreements edit

There are currently 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere, stretching from Canada to Chile that still have the FTAA as a long-term goal.[12] The Implementation of a full multilateral FTAA between all parties could be made possible by enlargement of existing agreements. At this point Agreements within the Area of the Americas include:

Previous agreements edit

Current agreements edit

Proposed agreements edit

Active negotiations
  • Canada-CARICOM:[13]
  • Canada-Central America (CA4TA – Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras)[14]
  • Canada-Mexico-Peru-Chile [among other Pacific nations]: Trans-Pacific Partnership
Negotiations on hold
  • CARICOM-Mercosur:[15]
  • United States-Ecuador: U.S.-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement
  • CARICOM-North American Free Trade Agreement, first discussed in 1993–1994[16]

Security pacts edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "ALCA – FTAA – ZLEA – Ministerial Declaration – Miami 2003". Ftaa-alca.org. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  2. ^ "ALCA – FTA – ZLEA – Candidate Cities for the Permanent Site of the FTAA Secretariat". Ftaa-alca.org. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  3. ^ [1][dead link]
  4. ^ [2][dead link]
  5. ^ . Afsc.org. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  6. ^ The future of US-Latin America trade relations: What can we achieve in the next few years?
  7. ^ . Ftaa-alca.org. Archived from the original on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  8. ^ a b "Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA)". Crwflags.com. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  9. ^ "An Interview with Evo Morales (12/08/03)". Upsidedownworld.org. 2005-10-16. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  10. ^ Gill, Nathan. . Southern Affairs. Archived from the original on 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  11. ^ "Council of Canadians: Campaigns: Trade and Investment: Publications: The Free Trade Area of the Americas by Maude Barlow". ratical.org. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  12. ^ . Actrav.itcilo.org. 1997-05-16. Archived from the original on 2010-05-18. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  13. ^ [3] May 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ [4] May 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ [5] April 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ . Silvertorch.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  17. ^ . Brazzilmag.com. 2004-08-25. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  18. ^ Goodman, Joshua (2008-12-15). "Bush Excluded by Latin Summit as China, Russia Loom (Update1)". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  19. ^ [6][dead link]
  20. ^ [7][dead link]
  21. ^ . australia.to. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2022.

External links edit

  • Mit.edu 2020-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  • . By Eric Farnsworth, Council of the Americas, December 2005
  • (November 10, 2005), Guyana Chronicle Newspaper
  • Canada, Chile thwart U.S.–Brazilian plan, The Washington Times (washtimes.com AP)
  • , FoodFirst.org Institute for Food and Development Policy
  • Why say no to FTAA, bilaterals.org
  • The Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Threat to Social Programs, Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice in Canada and the Americas

February 15, 2024
free, trade, area, americas, ftaa, proposed, agreement, eliminate, reduce, trade, barriers, among, countries, americas, excluding, cuba, negotiations, establish, ftaa, ended, failure, however, with, parties, unable, reach, agreement, 2005, deadline, they, them. The Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas excluding Cuba Negotiations to establish the FTAA ended in failure however with all parties unable to reach an agreement by the 2005 deadline they had set for themselves The Free Trade Area of the Americas logo representing the Americas as geometric figures Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 Disagreements 1 3 Current status 2 Membership 3 Support and opposition 4 Agreements 4 1 Previous agreements 4 2 Current agreements 4 3 Proposed agreements 5 Security pacts 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksHistory editIn the last round of negotiations trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami Florida in the United States in November 2003 to discuss the proposal 1 The proposed agreement was an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA between Canada Mexico and the United States Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization WTO talks developed nations sought expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property rights while less developed nations sought an end to agricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods Similar to the WTO talks Brazil took a leadership role among the less developed nations while the United States took a similar role for the developed nations Origins edit Discussions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas began at the first Summit of the Americas in Miami on December 11 1994 The FTAA came to public attention during the third summit held in Quebec City in 2001 as the meeting was targeted by large anti corporatization and anti globalization protests The Miami negotiations in 2003 met similar protests though not as large Disagreements edit In previous negotiations the United States had pushed for a single comprehensive agreement to 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 U S Australia Free Trade Agreement Another protection would likely have restricted the importation or cross importation of pharmaceuticals similar to the proposed agreement between the United States and Canada Brazil posed a three track approach that called for a series of bilateral agreements to reduce specific tariffs on goods a hemispheric pact on rules of origin and a dispute resolution process Brazil proposed to omit the more controversial issues from the FTA leaving them to the WTO The location of the FTA Secretariat was to have been determined in 2005 The contending cities were Atlanta Chicago Galveston Houston San Juan and Miami in the United States Cancun and Puebla in Mexico Panama City Panama and Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago The U S city of Colorado Springs also submitted its candidacy in the early days but subsequently withdrew 2 Miami Panama City and Puebla served successively an interim secretariat headquarters during the negotiation process The last summit was held at Mar del Plata Argentina in November 2005 but no agreement on FTA was reached Of the 39 countries present at the negotiations 20 pledged to meet again in 2006 to resume negotiations but no meeting took place The failure of the Mar del Plata summit to establish a comprehensive FTA agenda augured poorly Current status edit The FTAA missed the targeted deadline of 2005 which followed the stalling of useful negotiations of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005 3 Over the next few years some governments most notably the United States not wanting to lose any chance of hemispheric trade expansion moved in the direction of establishing a series of bilateral trade deals The leaders planned further discussions at the 6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena Colombia in 2012 but these discussions did not take place 4 5 As of 2022 U S trade policy neglected Latin America in favor of competition with China after failure of the Trans Pacific Partnership and resolving disputes with the European Union 6 Membership editThe following countries were planned to be part of the Free Trade Area of the Americas 7 nbsp Antigua and Barbuda nbsp Argentina nbsp Bahamas nbsp Barbados nbsp Belize nbsp Bolivia nbsp Brazil nbsp Canada nbsp Chile nbsp Colombia nbsp Costa Rica nbsp Dominica nbsp Dominican Republic nbsp Ecuador nbsp El Salvador nbsp Grenada nbsp Guatemala nbsp Guyana nbsp Haiti nbsp Honduras nbsp Jamaica nbsp Mexico nbsp Nicaragua nbsp Panama nbsp Paraguay nbsp Peru nbsp Saint Kitts and Nevis nbsp Saint Lucia nbsp Saint Vincent and the Grenadines nbsp Suriname nbsp Trinidad and Tobago nbsp United States nbsp Uruguay nbsp VenezuelaSupport and opposition editA vocal critic of the FTAA was Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who has described it as an annexation plan and a tool of imperialism for the exploitation of Latin America 8 As a counterproposal to this initiative Chavez promoted the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas Alianza Bolivariana para las Americas ALBA which emphasizes energy and infrastructure agreements 8 Evo Morales of Bolivia has referred to the U S backed Free Trade Area of the Americas as an agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas 9 On the other hand the then presidents of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina Nestor Kirchner have stated that they do not oppose the FTAA but they do demand that the agreement provide for the elimination of U S agriculture subsidies the provision of effective access to foreign markets and further consideration towards the needs and sensibilities of its members 10 One of the most contentious issues of the treaty proposed by the United States is with concerns to patents and copyrights Critics claim that if the measures proposed by the United States were implemented and applied this would reduce scientific research in Latin America On the Council of Canadians web site Barlow wrote This agreement sets enforceable global rules on patents copyrights and trademark It has gone far beyond its initial scope of protecting original inventions or cultural products and now permits the practice of patenting plants and animal forms as well as seeds It promotes the private rights of corporations over local communities and their genetic heritage and traditional medicines 11 On the weekend of April 20 2001 the 3rd Summit of the Americas was a summit held in Quebec City Canada This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed FTAA Agreements editThere are currently 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere stretching from Canada to Chile that still have the FTAA as a long term goal 12 The Implementation of a full multilateral FTAA between all parties could be made possible by enlargement of existing agreements At this point Agreements within the Area of the Americas include Previous agreements edit Canada Canada United States Free Trade Agreement 1988 superseded by the NAFTA Canada Mexico and United States North American Free Trade Agreement 1994 superseded by the USMCA Costa Rica Dominican Republic superseded by DR CAFTA Costa Rica Trinidad and Tobago superseded by a Costa Rica CARICOM FTA Current agreements edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Canada Mexico and United States United States Mexico Canada Agreement USMCA 2020 Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Dominican Republic and United States Dominican Republic Central America Free Trade Agreement DR CAFTA 2008 Chile Colombia Mexico and Peru Pacific Alliance 2012 Chile United States Free Trade Agreement 2004 Peru United States Trade Promotion Agreement 2007 United States Colombia Free Trade Agreement 2011 Panama United States Trade Promotion Agreement 2011 Canada Chile Canada Colombia Canada Costa Rica Canada Honduras Canada Panama Canada Peru Chile Mexico Chile Costa Rica Colombia CARICOM Colombia Costa Rica Colombia Northern Triangle Costa Rica Mexico Costa Rica CARICOM Mexico Nicaragua Mexico Uruguay Argentina Bolivia Brazil Paraguay and Uruguay Mercosur 1991 Bolivia Colombia Ecuador and Peru Andean Community 1969 Proposed agreements edit Active negotiationsCanada CARICOM 13 Canada Central America CA4TA Guatemala El Salvador Nicaragua Honduras 14 Canada Mexico Peru Chile among other Pacific nations Trans Pacific PartnershipNegotiations on holdCARICOM Mercosur 15 United States Ecuador U S Ecuador Free Trade Agreement CARICOM North American Free Trade Agreement first discussed in 1993 1994 16 Security pacts editUnited States Central America Mexico Merida Initiative needs update United States CARICOM Dominican Republic Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean needs update See also editRules of origin Market access Free trade area Tariffs Miami model Pacific Alliance Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty Transatlantic Free Trade Area TAFTA Community of Latin American and Caribbean States 17 18 19 20 21 Union of South American NationsReferences edit ALCA FTAA ZLEA Ministerial Declaration Miami 2003 Ftaa alca org Retrieved 2013 08 15 ALCA FTA ZLEA Candidate Cities for the Permanent Site of the FTAA Secretariat Ftaa alca org Retrieved 2013 08 15 1 dead link 2 dead link About AFSC Friends Service Committee Afsc org Archived from the original on 2010 04 08 Retrieved 2013 08 15 The future of US Latin America trade relations What can we achieve in the next few years ALCA FTAA ZLEA Links to FTAA Countries Ftaa alca org Archived from the original on 2010 06 27 Retrieved 2013 08 15 a b Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America ALBA Crwflags com Retrieved 2013 08 15 An Interview with Evo Morales 12 08 03 Upsidedownworld org 2005 10 16 Retrieved 2013 08 15 Gill Nathan April 2008 Southern Affairs Archived from the original on 2008 04 08 Retrieved 2013 08 15 Council of Canadians Campaigns Trade and Investment Publications The Free Trade Area of the Americas by Maude Barlow ratical org Retrieved 2020 03 02 Free Trade Area of Americas FTAA Actrav itcilo org 1997 05 16 Archived from the original on 2010 05 18 Retrieved 2013 08 15 3 Archived May 20 2011 at the Wayback Machine 4 Archived May 20 2011 at the Wayback Machine 5 Archived April 17 2011 at the Wayback Machine Caricom And Nafta Silvertorch com Archived from the original on 2015 10 16 Retrieved 2015 09 20 Brazil More Power to Quilombos Brazzilmag com 2004 08 25 Archived from the original on 2015 11 17 Retrieved 2015 09 20 Goodman Joshua 2008 12 15 Bush Excluded by Latin Summit as China Russia Loom Update1 Bloomberg Retrieved 2015 09 20 6 dead link 7 dead link Kagan Shifting the Supreme Court to the Right australia to Archived from the original on 19 February 2012 Retrieved 13 January 2022 External links editThis article s use of external links may not follow Wikipedia s policies or guidelines Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references September 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA process official home page Comparing the official agreement and alternative visions The Rise of the New Global Elite Statements of the former five term Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan Chilean and Foreign Policy Mit edu Archived 2020 09 29 at the Wayback Machine Harvard edu FTAA Delayed Not Over By Eric Farnsworth Council of the Americas December 2005 Whither the FTAA November 10 2005 Guyana Chronicle Newspaper Canada Chile thwart U S Brazilian plan The Washington Times washtimes com AP Myths of the FTAA FoodFirst org Institute for Food and Development Policy Why say no to FTAA bilaterals org The Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Threat to Social Programs Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice in Canada and the Americas Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Free Trade Area of the Americas amp oldid 1204224537, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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