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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

Small countries sit at nexus of tariff trade-offs
16-Apr-2025 Reuters
In response to Trump’s moves, Australian Prime Minister’s government is now trying to revive a free-trade agreement with the European Union and woo countries from Indonesia to India to the United Arab Emirates.
NZ says trans-Pacific, EU nations can defend free trade
10-Apr-2025 BSS News
New Zealand’s prime minister proposed a new alliance to battle global export restrictions, enlisting members of a 12-nation trans-Pacific free trading agreement and the European Union.
Over 50 countries seek US trade talks after tariffs: Trump officials
7-Apr-2025 Al Jazeera
More than 50 countries have directly contacted the White House to initiate trade talks following US President Donald Trump’s imposition of wide-ranging punitive tariffs, administration officials have said.
Does Trump’s return spell the end of free trade?
14-Mar-2025 Attac France & bilaterals.org
Donald Trump’s return to power and his fresh round of tariffs have sent further shockwaves through the neoliberal order that has shaped global trade since the 1990s. So does this mark the death of free trade?
bilaterals.org: 20 years supporting resistance to free trade agreements
17-Dec-2024 bilaterals.org
To mark our 20th anniversary, we gathered in October in Bandung, Indonesia, to reflect on our journey, the changes over these two decades and the challenges we face both politically and in our communications.
Trade Gone Mad: exposing the dark side of "Free Trade"
25-Nov-2024 Local Futures
The animation "Trade Gone Mad" sheds light on the destructive impact of corporate-driven global trade. It highlights how so-called "free trade" agreements, often negotiated behind closed doors, empower multinational corporations to prioritize profits over people and the planet.
A tsunami of trade agreements: Reflections on 20 years of resistance
12-Nov-2024 bilaterals.org
As trade justice activists, we must be at the forefront of collective organising and mobilising for a new trade system that addresses pressing global challenges.
Twenty years of bilaterals.org, twenty years of fighting FTAs
4-Nov-2024 bilaterals.org
When bilaterals.org was set up back in 2004, the world looked rather different. What has changed?
There are no free lunches in trade deals
13-Sep-2024 Foreign Policy
How to cut through the PR and understand an agreement.
NFUniversity: Colonial roots of modern free trade agreements
9-Sep-2024 NFU
This talk explored the colonial origins of modern international trade. Geopolitics, power relations, and corporate interests have shaped trade rules for over 500 years before it reached its current form.

    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.