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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

What global trade deals are really about (hint: it’s not trade)
11-May-2020 TEDx Talks
Haley Edwards breaks down the history of trade and explains how the idea of global trade has transformed in the past decades.
Stop all trade and investment treaty negotiations during COVID-19 crisis and focus on access to medical supplies and saving lives
22-Apr-2020 Friends of the Earth International
An open letter to Trade Ministries and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Putting an end to the EU’s neo-colonial policies in the field of trade and investment
14-Apr-2020 CADTM
The destructive effects of these free trade agreements signed with the EU are already clearly visible in the majority of countries of the South.
Trump sights in WTO procurement pact for leverage on UK, EU
5-Feb-2020 Bloomberg
By threatening to withdraw from the GPA, the Trump administration can increase its leverage and obtain greater public procurement concessions in bilateral talks with the EU and UK.
Paraguayan FM: Ties with Turkey strengthen through further cooperation
24-Jan-2020 Daily Sabah
The Paraguay president plans to visit Turkey in March 2020 and sign an agreement for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
After China trade deal, Europe and UK next on Trump’s to-do list
23-Jan-2020 Reuters
US President Donald Trump vowed to rip up international trade deals and rebalance America’s global trade relationships.
Neoliberalism and the end of politics
6-Jan-2020 Counter Punch
Understanding power is more important to predicting the winners and losers of neoliberal economic policies than knowing the economics.
We need a socialist trade policy
9-Dec-2019 Jacobin
Instead of imagining trade as an end in itself, or as the driver of job creation and production, we should think about trade as a support mechanism for well-defined political goals centered on improving the lives of working people.
RCEP: Does free trade reduce inequalities, ask Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in their new book
7-Nov-2019 Scroll.in
Data shows that poverty reduction slows down in areas impacted the most strongly by trade liberalisation, says the book.
The US-Japan trade deal could undermine the WTO
23-Oct-2019 Atlantic Council
If the United States and others following in its footsteps begin to negotiate agreements that cut tariffs on a significantly smaller scope of products, the WTO might confront a gradual erosion of one of its central tenets—most favored nation.

    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.