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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

The embattled future of global trade policy
13-May-2015
Should proposed US plurilateral trade agreements be welcomed? This is a big question, not least for those who consider the liberalisation of world trade to be a signal achievement. It is also highly controversial.
Victory for grassroots as Fast Track goes down in crucial Senate vote
13-May-2015 Common Dreams
In what was immediately heralded as a victory for the grassroots, Senate Democrats on Tuesday stymied President Barack Obama’s corporate-driven trade agenda by voting to prevent the chamber from taking up Fast Track legislation.
Major win as US Senate blocks TPP Fast Track bill
13-May-2015 EFF
Opponents of sprawling and secretive international agreements won a significant victory today when U.S. Senators voted to block the advancement of its Fast Track trade bill.
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Democrats may have votes to block ’fast track’ authority
12-May-2015 Stuff
Democratic party infighting has left in limbo US President Barack Obama’s highly sought special authority to close global trade deals, with opponents believing they have the votes to block the measure.
Resisting the ‘free trade’ offensive: four reasons to join the global day of action this Saturday
17-Apr-2015 Left Foot Forward
This slew of trade deals can be seen as a global corporate offensive – indeed, they are backed by networks of think tanks and lobby groups funded and staffed by some of the world’s most powerful corporations. So to defeat them, we need to coordinate our own actions globally.
Deal reached on fast-track authority for Obama on trade pact
16-Apr-2015 New York Times
The leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees reached agreement Thursday on legislation to give President Obama “fast track” authority to negotiate an ambitious trade accord with 11 other Pacific nations
17 April 2015: International Day of Peasant and Farmer Struggle against Transnational Companies and Free Trade Agreements
30-Mar-2015 La Via Campesina
This April 17th 2015, La Via Campesina will focus its mobilizations on the impacts of Transnational Corporations and Free Trade Agreements on peasant and small-scale agriculture and national food sovereignty
LatAm states look to trade in bilateral deals for regional agreements
28-Mar-2015 Emerging Markets
Latin American countries are increasingly looking at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as forming the foundation of a broader free trade area of Asia Pacific linking the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Push against investment rules in US trade deals picks up
12-Mar-2015 Reuters
Law professors from across the United States urged lawmakers to keep rules to protect foreign investors out of trade pacts on Wednesday, warning they would give big companies too much power.
Unions to fight trade pact by freezing political donations
11-Mar-2015 Wall Street Journal
Dozens of major labor unions plan to freeze campaign contributions to members of Congress to pressure them to oppose fast-track trade legislation sought by President Barack Obama , according to labor officials.

    Links

  • #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
  • 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 trade regimes for countries pursuing industrial policies for development.
  • Alianza Social Continental
    La Alianza Social Continental es un foro de organizaciones y movimientos sociales progresistas de las Américas, creado para intercambiar información, definir estrategias y promover acciones conjuntas, todo ello encaminado a la búsqueda de un modelo de desarrollo alternativo y democrático, que beneficie a nuestros pueblos
  • 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 emerging powers...
  • 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, launched in October 2016.
  • 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 struggle and mutual support called Peoples’ Global Action against "Free" Trade and the World Trade Organisation (PGA).
  • 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
  • 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 search tool for legal texts, and other documents.