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FTAA

Sometimes dubbed “NAFTA on steroids“, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was an attempt to expand NAFTA to 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere (it excluded Cuba).

From Canada to Argentina, the FTAA was strongly opposed by social movements, trade unions, NGOs and communities mobilizing against the neoliberal policies it promoted.
Governments including Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela were increasingly critical of the US agenda at the FTAA negotiations.

Finally, at the Third Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in early November 2005, the FTAA was left for dead after the United States failed to overcome the staunch opposition of Venezuela and the Mercosur countries.

Since then, the FTAA agenda has remained stalled, although there was a tentative attempt in September 2008 to relaunch the initiative, retitled “Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas,” with the support of several Latin American governments.

The defeat of the FTAA was one impetus for the United States to step up its push for a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and other far-reaching bilateral free trade and investment treaties with countries of the region.

last update: May 2012

Photo: CC BY 2.0


Sub-region integration a challenge to FTAA
The fifth annual World Social Forum will take place Jan. 26-31 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre amidst an upsurge in Latin American sub-regional integration efforts, bolstered by the obvious failure of the project to create the hemisphere-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Many obstacles ahead for resumption of FTAA talks
This month negotiations for the creation of a Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, encompassing the 34 countries of the hemisphere (with the exception of Cuba) should have successfully finalized but strong objections from United States and Mercosur cut the dialogue short last April.
Cuba and Venezuela slam US Free Trade Area of the Americas
In a new bid to challenge the US backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Tuesday announced in Havana an alternative bloc for the region based in mutual cooperation among states rather than in pure pro-market policies.
Bush plan that critics call ’NAFTA on steroids’ stalls
President Bush’s goal for a free-trade zone encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere faces growing opposition in the United States and abroad.
Bush Election May Pave Way for Americas Free Trade Talks
U.S. President George W. Bush’s election to a second four-year term paves the way for the resumption of negotiations for a free trade agreement spanning the Americas.
Neither a triumph nor popular - The FTAAs’ Ministers Meeting in Miami
The ministers of 34 American countries, that are negotiating the scope and extent of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAAs) met mid November 2003 to finalize agreement on a number of issues, notably on intellectual property and agriculture.
Una introducción al ALCA: Las negociaciones por un tratado de libre comercio en las Américas
Desde 1994, todos los gobiernos del hemisferio americano, con la excepción del cubano, han estado negociando lo que puede constituir el acuerdo de libre comercio más importante del planeta, el ALCA (o Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas).