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Free trade is a prison
19-Aug-2007 East African
As the world prepares to celebrate the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on August 23, a new book on the lessons learnt from that trade and how its “successor,” free trade is undermining democracy and justice in Africa has just been published.
Japan to push business ties in India
17-Aug-2007 Daily Times
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be taking 200 business executives to India on August 21-23. The two countries have already agreed to forge an economic partnership agreement within two years, and they also have an ambitious plan to build, with Japanese assistance, a $90 billion industrial corridor with state-of-the-art infrastructure linking Delhi and Mumbai.
Pacific: Getting the private sector in
3-Aug-2007 Islands Business
This is the first time that members of the major business sector and representatives of private sector organisations from all 14 Pacific Forum Islands Countries will be coming together with regional ministers and senior policy officials to discuss major strategic business issues that face the region.
Private sector urges restraint in signing EPA agreement
3-Aug-2007 Vanguard
Nigerian captains of commerce and industry have warned that the proposed trade agreements are not in the best interest of the growth of industry in the country.
The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA): Surrendering sovereignty and development
2-Aug-2007 IBON
JPEPA is undoubtedly beneficial — for big Japanese corporations and elite corporate interests in the Philippines, not for the Filipino people.
RP-based Korean firms seek free trade deal
31-Jul-2007 PDI
Korean investors want more liberal trade between South Korea and the Philippines through a regional free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a meeting among economic ministers in the region approaches.
UK exporters losing out over EU’s protracted Free Trade Agreements with Gulf nations
26-Jul-2007 AME Info
UK businesses are increasingly likely to lose out to the US on valuable Gulf export opportunities because it is taking so long for the EU to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the region’s key states, says Trowers & Hamlins, the international law firm.
BusinessEurope position on the EU-Korea free-trade agreement
25-Jul-2007
BUSINESSEUROPE would like to see an agreement based on full coverage, full reciprocity and effective market access for industrial goods, ambitious services liberalisation of as many sectors as possible, strong rules to foster and protect investments, and strong rules on trade facilitation, competition and public procurement.
Google’s free trade agenda
20-Jul-2007 Forbes
For the past several months, Google has been quietly lobbying the US government to include restrictions against Internet censorship as a stipulation in free trade agreements with other countries.
NEMA applauds signing of US free trade agreements with Panama and South Korea
13-Jul-2007 National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) congratulates US trade negotiators on this week’s signing of two important bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), and calls upon Congress to ratify the two FTAs as soon as possible.
New Indo-Canadian CEO group talks free trade
11-Jul-2007
On the heels of an investment agreement between the two countries, Indian and Canadian business leaders are studying the feasibility of a free trade agreement, with the results expected by the end of the year, India’s high commissioner said.
Bush administration, industry meet as Panama, Peru trade deals delayed
10-Jul-2007
Senior members of the Bush administration and several US industry representatives were meeting today in Washington in order to devise a plan under which stalled free trade agreements (FTAs) with Panama and Peru might be quickly approved by Congress.
CEOs form task force to study FTA between India and Canada
21-Jun-2007 Financial Express
The Confederation of Indian Industry and Canadian Council of Chief Executives have agreed to set up a task force to study the feasibility of India-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
NAFTA claim dismissed, dicey clause remains
15-Jun-2007
A seven-year legal battle by the US postal carrier United Parcel Service of America (UPS) against Canada, brought under a controversial free trade agreement, has been dismissed, but advocacy groups say a provision that allows corporations to sue for lost profits should be permanently dropped.
Caterpillar pushes for passage of US-Panamanian Trade Promotion Agreement
5-Jun-2007 Webwire
Caterpillar Inc vice president Tom Gales cited a major construction project the country is embarking on—the expansion of the Panama Canal—as one reason why the trade agreement is essential. The expansion is the world’s largest public works project since the Three Gorges Dam was constructed in China.
European businesses call for broad economic talks with Japan
4-Jun-2007
European business leaders in Japan called on the European Commission and the Japanese government to begin talks on a broad economic agreement spanning trade, investment and other issues.
Caterpillar Pushes for Passage of U.S.-Panamanian Trade Promotion Agreement
4-Jun-2007
In testimony given Wednesday, May 16, before the United States International Trade Commission in Washington D.C., the Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) vice president with responsibility for Latin America emphasized why a Panama Trade Promotion Agreement will be remarkably beneficial for the U.S., Panama and the region.
Korean trade agreement: Threat to public health
31-May-2007 News Release Wire
The US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) continues the practice of corporate hijacking global trade negotiations to the benefit of transnational drug and tobacco companies, and at the expense of people’s health. It threatens core protections for public health, long under fire from NAFTA’s notorious Chapter 11.
US complicit in labor abuse
31-May-2007 Argus Leader Media
Why would the business community be applauding an agreement that guaranteed workers’ rights in FTAs — something they’d been fighting against for years? Because they’d been given assurances, relative to American workers, "that the labor provisions cannot be read to require compliance with ILO Conventions."
East Africa: EPA controversy continues
28-May-2007 AllAfrica.com
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has warned that COMESA states will lose up to Ksh16.9billion ($241 million) annually if the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union is endorsed. "Is this a second colonization by the EU.....or economic slavery by the so-called developed world?" said Mr. John Ogam, member of the Kisumu KAM executive Committee.