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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

A serendipitous exception in FTAs
26-Nov-2004
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile last weekend, leaders discussed economic issues, especially trade. Singapore and Peru, for example, agreed to initiate talks for a free trade agreement.
New World Bank study on regional and bilateral trade agreements
18-Nov-2004 WB
This report addresses two questions: What are the characteristics of agreements that strongly promote-or hinder-development for member countries? Does the proliferation of agreements pose risks to the multilateral trading system, and how can those risks be managed?
Lockwood Smith: Second-term Bush presidency good for world trade
13-Nov-2004 New Zealand Herald
While terrorism and security are, for good reason, high in people’s minds right now, global trade developments are critically important for New Zealand over the next two to three years.
Unravelling the complex rationale of RTAs
3-Nov-2004 Financial Express
Proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has been a striking development in the world’s trading systems since the mid-1990s.
More trade caution seen with Kerry, more deals under Bush
2-Nov-2004 Stuff
An election win for Senator John Kerry could make the United States tougher and more cautious on trade, while a victory for President George W Bush would keep the country on the path to more deals, experts say.
Stiglitz: New trade pacts betray the poorest partners
19-Oct-2004
In negotiating trade agreements with Morocco, Chile and other countries, the Bush administration has used the same approach that earned us the enmity of so much of the rest of the world. The bilateral agreements reveal an economic policy dictated more by special interests than by a concern for the well-being of our poorer trading partners.
Watch out beyond the WTO: The EU’s aggressive multi-level trade agenda
5-Oct-2004 WEED
Is it really just the US which pushes its economic interests in fora outside the WTO? No! The European Commission as the power centre of EU trade policy is pursuing its own neo-liberal liberalisation and deregulation scheme multilaterally within the WTO and at the same time in regional and bilateral processes!
Two-way deals fill free trade gap
3-Oct-2004 IHT
It may seem as though a deal is a deal, but experts in the field differ on the relative merits of bilateral and regional agreements, with each having its friends and foes.
Coalition forces advance
23-Sep-2004 IRC
The Bush foreign policy team is looking a bit down in the mouth lately. The much-heralded “coalition of the willing” proved, like the alleged weapons of mass destruction, to be a myth of the Iraq war. But another coalition pieced together by the Bush administration—“the coalition of the liberalizers”—is advancing.
Global trade: Creating a new mindset with FTAs
20-Sep-2004 STI
Although FTAs have both trade-creating and -diverting effects, overall they serve the objective of multilateral trade liberalisation.

    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.