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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

On the road again: Four goals for the new US Trade Representative
20-Jun-2006
Susan Schwab began work last week as US Trade Representative (USTR) at a difficult time for free trade.
House could delay major trade votes
14-Jun-2006 Reuters
A group of US lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for a new trade deal with Vietnam, but a senior Republican said Congress may not vote on trade legislation until after November’s congressional election.
Bush trade strategy backfires as chances of global pact recede
17-May-2006 Bloomberg
President George W Bush’s strategy of using individual accords as stepping stones to a unified, global system of trade may be backfiring.
OWINFS call to action: Stop the WTO’s Doha "development" round and other "free trade" negotiations
4-May-2006 OWINFS
We call upon civil society organizations and social movements from around the world to join with us in showing their strong, united and unequivocal opposition to the completion of the World Trade Organization’s trade ‘round’, and other bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements being forced on people by governments.
Doha Round faces collapse as talks are suspended
2-May-2006 AllAfrica.com
Most trade experts believe that if a tentative deal cannot be agreed in the next few months, there will not be time to complete the details and gain approval in the US. If this happens, it would be the first time that the world trade talks have stalled, and may lead to a world which is increasingly divided into protectionist trade blocs.
Opening up to worries
13-Apr-2006 Sun2Surf
An interview with Chee Yoke Ling of Third World Network on globalisation, WTO and FTAs
Pitfalls aplenty on the fast track to trade
11-Apr-2006 New Straits Times
The distorting aspects of bilateral free trade agreements can be avoided by adopting a multilateral approach, argues Mohamed Ariff.
USTR 2006 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
7-Apr-2006 USTR
USTR has recently released its latest annual country-by-country assessment of barriers to US trade around the world, Washington’s basis for unilateral trade sanctions.
Reasons to worry about bilateral trade pacts
6-Apr-2006 The Nation
An examination of the globalised approach by both EU countries and the US to bilateral FTAs shows that acceleration has occurred as the WTO has lost its effect. While it is easy to rationalise that the global north is acting independently because the WTO is failing, it is more fun to speculate that the global north is acting to stall the WTO since they get much better terms on a one-to-one basis in their agreements with developing countries.
US ’always in the driving seat in FTA talks’
3-Apr-2006 The Nation
The economic strength of the United States makes it "virtually impossible" for developing nations to negotiate a fair bilateral free-trade agreement, according to Argentina’s new ambassador to Thailand.

    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.