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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

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.
Why is Iceland the focus of Washington’s new trade strategy?
24-Sep-2019 Safe Haven
A free trade deal with Iceland has an important benefit: It’s part of a broader plan to boost America’s presence in the Arctic region as a bulwark against Russia and China.
Trump races for trade deals with Japan and India as China fight persists
18-Sep-2019 New York Times
The Trump administration is racing to announce limited trade deals with Japan and India, as President Trump tries to score some wins amid a protracted trade fight with China
Turkey, US to hold talks on free trade agreement, Erdoğan says
11-Sep-2019 Daily Sabah
Turkish President announced that he and his US counterpart agreed to kick start free trade agreement talks and that officials from both nations will shortly begin preparations.
How unique are preferential trade agreements?
25-Jul-2019 Live Mint
A large portion of the content of preferential trade agreements is copied word for word from earlier agreements, finds a study
Trump’s ’America First’ policy driving other countries to ink trade deals, analysts say
12-Jul-2019 Washington Times
Europe, Asia, Africa rush to nail down accords
Quantifying the policy space for regulating capital flows in trade and investment treaties
10-Apr-2019 The Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four
The international trade and investment treaty regime is increasingly restricting the policy space for regulating cross-border financial flows, study finds.

    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.