Free Trade Area Of The Americas Research Articles

A Specific Factor Model of FTAA and North Carolina Textile and Apparel Industries

Textile and apparel industries in the US face import competition that promises to increase under the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The present paper utilizes a specific factors model of production and trade to predict the potential impact of FTAA on the textile and apparel industries in North Carolina. Income is redistributed across six labor skill groups in North Carolina, and returns to capital in textiles and apparel fall as does output. In spite of falling prices for textiles and apparels, the model predicts higher wages based on rising prices of other products.

Expanding the NAFTA Chapter 19 Dispute Settlement System: A Way to Declaw Trade Remedy Laws in a Free Trade Area of the Americas?

Chapter 19 of the NAFTA transfers judicial review of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican government investigations under the controversial anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws from national courts to binational panels of private international law experts. The system stands as a unique surrender of judicial sovereignty to an international body, a hybrid of national courts and international dispute settlement with as yet no parallel in the world of international trade or other international law regimes. Binational panel decisions have been controversial because agencies chafe at their intimate examination of agency findings and supporting evidence. Panels also are viewed as substantially more likely to overturn agency conclusions than national courts. Given the record of chapter 19 NAFTA panels, the paper examines whether the system created to fill a unique need among the NAFTA parties may have broader utility, albeit one perhaps less true to its original purpose. U.S. recalcitrance on proposed changes to its AD/CVD laws (and its agricultural subsidies) were the principal reasons that Brazil forced Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) talks onto the back burner to await the Doha Round results on these issues. The United States is unlikely to condone major changes to the WTO Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Agreements, which will become the final sticking point for reaching agreement after members resolve the agriculture issues now blocking conclusion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Thus, trade remedies will again surface as major issues once FTAA talks resume. Studies indicate that binational panels reverse agency decisions at a greater rate than national courts and that existence of the system has reduced the rate of filing of industry requests for AD/CVD investigations. Rather than attempting to finding an elusive middle ground of substantive revisions to these laws, might changing the method of review of agency determinations furnish a missing piece in the puzzle of FTAA negotiations? Although Brazil's (and other FTAA country) officials may at first glance see nothing in a Chapter 19 process that addresses their substantive AD/CVD conflicts with the United States in such cases as orange juice and steel, reflection may reveal that Chapter 19 has demonstrated yet again what good lawyers have always known, that procedure can become substance in the twinkle of an eye. In short, more than one way exists to reduce the trade-restricting effect of U.S. AD/CVD investigations. Improvements would have to be made, including introduction of an automatic and effective right of appeal whose absence arguably undercuts the credibility of the process by awarding enormous power to panels. Adoption of a system such as NAFTA's chapter 19 on a 34-nation basis not only may ameliorate long-intractable conflicts over trade remedy laws, but implementation of such a system also will have substantial positive effects for civil society in general. Dispute settlement systems promote timeliness, inclusive record keeping, and impartiality in the administrative decisional process. They improve governmental accountability on several levels. By improving participation of all levels of society in their governance, international trade dispute settlement systems strongly promote the rule of law.

The North–South divide and security in the Western Hemisphere: United States–South American relations after September 11 and the Iraq war

This paper examines the economics–security nexus in US policy toward South America, and the implications for South America of the ‘securitization’ of US foreign economic policy during the Bush administration. There has always been a tight linkage between the US foreign economic and security agendas but the real issue is the degree of ‘tightness’ at a given point in time. After the Alliance for Progress lost its way the United States tended to pursue its economic and security interests in South America in separate tracks, even if preventing Soviet intrusions in the region remained in the background. Yet after the collapse of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations in 2004 a US strategy of ‘divide and conquer’ through bilateral trade deals has been accompanied by a ‘securitization’ discourse and there are some indications that it may ‘securitize’ as a new threat the social movements and neopopulist regimes that oppose neoliberal economic policies. The paper discusses the limits of the securitization thesis. The conclusion examines the future of US–South American relations and argues that the United States needs to renew its commitment to genuine multilateralism and re-engage the region to establish an effective and lasting partnership for dealing with common economic and security challenges in the twenty-first century.

The Formation of FTAA, MERCOEURO and its Probable Impacts on the Brazilian Coffee Export to the United States and the European Union

Trade liberalization is an essential requirement for the increase of trade between nations, providing numerous gains to the involved countries, due to the reducing of trade barriers, which can change price behavior. In the 1990's, Brazilian trade integration followed the world's new standard context, based on the so-called New Regionalism, which is characterized by the countries' integration through both bilateral and multilateral deals. The purpose of this work is to analyze the impacts of a hypothetic formation of Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the union between Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and European Union (EU), MERCOEURO, in respect of the Brazilian green coffee exportations to the United States of America and the European Union, from 1999 to 2006. For this purpose, the partial equilibrium model developed by Laird and Yeats [12] was used, since it measures trade creation and trade diversion after the institution of those blocs. This study shows us that the effects of the formation of FTAA and MERCOEURO had positive effects on the Brazilian coffee exports.

The Castro-Chávez Alliance

Socialist Cuba and Bolivarian Venezuela have embarked jointly on a historic journey of hemispheric dimensions. Under the collaborative and solidarity alliance between Havana and Caracas a complex web of bilateral trade and services has been developed, including Venezuelan oil and Cuban medical expertise. The mutually beneficial exchanges have served as a blueprint for the continentwide exchanges promoted by the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, which was conceived by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez in opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Washington Consensus, and neoliberalism. Venezuela's alliance with Cuba is more than political calculation or commercial exchanges. Its reasons and foundation run deeper. The revolutionary solidarity between Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, the bedrock of the alliance, is based on the vision of a united Latin America free of Washington's control, turning Simón Bolívar's legacy into a new reality.

Will Soldiers Follow? Economic Integration and Regional Security in the Southern Cone

The European Union and MERCOSUR: Prospectsfor a Free Trade Agreement Negotiations between the European Union and MERCOSUR aim to establish the first free trade agreement ever between two customs unions. Among the potential obstacles are compliance with World Trade Organization rules, treatment of sensitive products, and competition from the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. This analysis reviews the economic background on both sides, the motivation, and the prospects for success, along with the agreement's potential impact on the largest third party, the United States. On the Road to Southern Cone Economic Integration The integration process as developed in MERCOSUR has been largely a success, albeit led (and often aggravated) by Brazil. Three cases illustrate Brazil's dominant role: the dispute over the automobile regime that began in 1995, the import-financing conflict of 1997, and the recent negotiations over the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Brazil's behavior pattern does not threaten MERCOSUR's stability, however, or the all-but-irreversible progress of regional integration. Will Soldiers Follow? Economic Integration and Regional Security in the Southern Cone MERCOSUR's success as an economic bloc suggests that it could serve as a stimulus or even a model for security integration. Improved military ties among the MERCOSUR nations have grown out of a sequence of developments, from political rapprochement to economic convergence and improved civilian state control. Yet increased cooperation has not led to a regional defense system. Case studies reveal that national considerations have inhibited most MERCOSUR members from accepting the idea of a regional security alliance. Disconnected Fire Alarms and Ineffective Police Patrols: Legislative Oversight in Post-Authoritarian Chile In many Latin American countries, corruption and administrative inefficiency have emerged as significant threats to democracy and governability. This case study employs McCubbins and Schwartz's U.S.-centered model of fire alarm and police patrol oversight to analyze how effectively

The EU and ASEAN: Learning from the Failed EU-Mercosur FTA Negotiations

I. Introduction On 4 May 2007, at a meeting held in Brunei Darussalam, ASEAN and the EU agreed to launch negotiations for a Free Trade Area (FTA) (ASEAN Economic Ministers and the European Union Trade Commissioner 2007). If the negotiations are successful, the FTA agreement will replace the 1980 ASEAN-EC Cooperation Agreement, revision of which had foundered in the 1990s on issues pertaining to human rights. The negotiations themselves will require a change in attitude on the part of ASEAN. For the first time, ASEAN will find itself in a situation where it will have to offer tangible concessions, such as tariff reductions, to the EU in return for access to the EU market. ASEAN is not the first group of developing countries to engage in FTA negotiations with the EU. Regional sub-groups of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries negotiated Economic Partnership Agreements with the EU between 2002 and 2007. However, the ACP states' negotiating experience may not be all that instructive for ASEAN, as most ACP countries are least developed countries. For most of them, the EU and its members are the most important sources of official development assistance (ODA) and their main trade partners. They are thus vulnerable to economic and political pressure from the EU. In contrast, only four of ASEAN's ten members are least developed countries. For the other six, the EU is not the most important source of ODA (if at all), although the EU is one of the main trading partners for most of them. This paper argues that ASEAN would do well to learn from the experience of the failed EU-Mercosur negotiations for an Interregional Association Agreement. These were formally launched in November 1999, although gradual and reciprocal liberalization of trade between the two regions had been declared as an objective of the two organizations as early as the 1995 EU-Mercosur Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement (Klom 2003, p. 361). The negotiations were suspended in October 2004 as a result of disagreements over the free trade provisions of the proposed Association Agreement. Mercosur, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, is another group of developing countries that is a priority for EU FTA negotiations. It might be objected that Mercosur's experience of dealing with the EU is not necessarily useful for ASEAN. As former colonies of Iberian countries and as more or less functioning democracies, they share a heritage with the EU that could conceivably facilitate negotiations with the latter. Moreover, most Mercosur members export agricultural commodities to the EU, whereas the ASEAN countries have been successful in diversifying their exports to the EU away from agricultural products to manufactured goods. That said, several circumstances justify the effort to understand Mercosur's experience with the EU. First of all, the reason for the EU's interest in Mercosur and ASEAN is identical: both constitute sizeable markets for the EU (European Commission SEC (2006) 1230). The ASEAN region has a population of about 560 million, a combined GDP of almost US$1,100 billion, and a total trade of about US$1,400 billion (ASEAN Secretariat, n.d.). The total population of the five Mercosur countries is approximately 234.5 million, with a combined GDP of over US$900 billion, and total trade of about US$260 billion (Inter-American Development Bank, n.d.). Second, in both cases, one of the EU's motivations for pursuing FTA negotiations is defensive. In Mercosur, the EU feared that the U.S.-sponsored project for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) might adversely affect its market share in Mercosur and in Latin America (Chaire Mercosur de Sciences Po 2005, p. 18). In Southeast Asia, the threat to EU interests has materialized in the form of bilateral FTAs of individual ASEAN members with Japan and/or the United States. Negotiations with the EU will undoubtedly pose a challenge of a different nature to ASEAN. …

A América do Sul em movimento

This paper discusses the prospects for the integration of South America, stressing that there are two competing projects. One the one hand, we have the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), as proposed by Washington, or bilateral free trade agreements with the United States in the FTAA format. On the other hand, we have Mercosur, recently expanded by the accession of Venezuela. Washington’s still very significant but declining influence in South America, relations between Argentina and Brazil, Venezuela’s entry into Mercosur, and the role of smaller countries are successively examined. JEL Classification: F15; P16.

An APEC trade agenda?: the political economy of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific

Preliminary pages 1. An APEC Trade Agenda by Charles E Morrison 2. A Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific in the Wake of the Faltering Doha Round: Trade Policy Alternatives for APEC by C Fred Bergsten 3. The Political Economy of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific: A U.S. Perspective by Vinod K Aggarwal 4. The Political Economy of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific: A China Perspective by Sheng Bin 5. Japans FTA Strategy and a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific by Shujiro Urata 6. Lessons from the Free Trade Area of the Americas for APEC Economies by Sherry M Stephenson 7. Prospects for Linking Preferential Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific Region by Robert Scollay 8. ASEAN Perspective on Promoting Regional and Global Freer Trade by Chia Siow Yue and Hadi Soesastro.

Las políticas regionales compensatorias en el marco de la integración económica: reflexiones en torno al ALCA, los TLC y el Mercosur

El argumento central de este artículo es que el Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (alca) —como ambicioso proyecto de apertura comercial— tendrá un enorme impacto en la relocalización de las actividades productivas, afectando a las regiones menos avanzadas al interior de los países miembros. Por esta razón, como lo demuestra la experiencia de la Unión Europea (ue), es necesario establecer políticas compensatorias mediante la creación de fondos regionales que permitan a ciertas regiones mitigar el impacto de la apertura comercial. Tomando en consideración la forma en que se ha tratado este tema en las negociaciones del alca, en este artículo se examina la conveniencia o no de instalar una zona de libre comercio en el hemisferio occidental.

Hacia una armonización fiscal en América: razones y principios a considerar

This paper intends to highlight the different aspects to consider towards an accurate tax harmonization for the Americas. I also explore the different approaches of tax harmonization, which allows me to put emphasis in the importance of having principles according to our reality and not having to adopt models that have worked in different latitudes. I intend to contribute with the conformation of principles that should guide the tax harmonization for the Americas and to propose a concept of tax harmonization applicable to the Free Trade Area of the Americas . At last, but not at least, I explain the reasons why it is important a tax harmonization for this area . We are certainly far from a political agreement in this matters, but it is feasible and it is important to account with a reasonable theoretical background when those political decisions are made.

The Limits of Regionalism: NAFTA's Labour Accord

Assessing the effectiveness of the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), this book examines the operation of the core institutions (the Secretariat and National Administrative Offices) over the past seven years. It discusses the main functions of these institutions in hearing public submissions on violations of labour laws and in conducting research and cooperative activities. Based on interview research, the analysis reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the accord to assess its contribution to a common labour relations regime in North America and its impact in creating new transnational communities of actors in government and civil society in the three countries. The NAALC is also compared with the social dimension of the European Union system, and a final assessment is made as to whether the NAALC institutions live up to the promises of their founders and whether these can be a model for labour relations in any future Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement.

Strategic Regionalism and Regional Social Policy in the FTAA Process

This article analyses the US proposal to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and argues that two approaches to the FTAA exist, as evidenced during the negotiating process. The first approach is strategic regionalism. Promoted by an alliance of the US and Multinational Enterprises, the objective is to promote regional economic integration based on a radical liberalization of markets accompanied by limited regulation of certain `trade related issues', notably intellectual property, government procurement and investment. The second approach proposes a gradual liberalization of markets, common industrial development and a regional social policy. Advocates of this approach include governments, regional groupings, some business groups and civil society organizations. This article explores the ways in which these Latin American actors have confronted the `strategic regionalism' approach and argues that their strategies of opposition and contestation are a major cause of current collapse in the FTAA negotiation process.

Interregionalism and International Relations

Interregionalism and International Relations, Heiner Hänggi, Ralf Roloff and Jürgen Rüland, eds., Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics; London: Routledge, 2006, pp. 364.How do we explain a widespread international phenomenon that only occasionally contributes to the geo-strategic or economic interests of the participating states? This book is about interregionalism, the international organizations and institutions that link regional organizations from more than one region of the world (as, for example, ASEM, also known as Asia-Europe Meeting) or that span across more than one region, such as APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) or FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas). The fact is that few of these institutions have accomplished much in concrete terms, yet they continue to proliferate, as the four-and-a-half page list of acronyms at the beginning of this volume amply demonstrates.

Venezuela in the caribbean: expanding its sphere of influence

In the wake of deteriorating relations between the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the administration of George W. Bush in the USA, Venezuela has sought to expand its influence into Commonwealth Caribbean countries by offering a loan scheme for oil payments. Caricom countries account for almost half the votes in the Organization of American states and the Latin American and Caribbean Group in UN bodies. President Chavez has called on the Caribbean to join a ‘sea of resistance’ against US imperialism as part of his programme of 21st century socialism and rejection of the US initiative for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. The USA had written to Caricom countries warning them against a relationship with Chavez and accusing him of threatening democracy. This article analyses the traditional relationship between Caricom and the USA, on the one hand, and the new relationship with Venezuela, on the other, and argues that the Caricom countries, small though they are, will act in their own interests.

Regional Integration in Latin America: Dawn of an Alternative to Neoliberalism?1

At the turn of the century, it seemed inevitable that regional integration in Latin America would occur under the rubric of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and US hegemony. But 2005—the year the FTAA was to have been launched—has come and gone, and the whole FTAA project is in tatters. This article will examine two regional integration initiatives, which have emerged in its wake—the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). Both represent a challenge to US-led integration. However, the Venezuelan-centered ALBA is potentially a much more radical challenge to neoliberalism than the Brazilian-centered UNASUR.

The Hemispheric Social Alliance and the Free Trade Area of the Americas Process: The Challenges and Opportunities of Transnational Coalitions against Neo-liberalism

The paper analyses the formation of a transnational coalition of civil society organizations coordinated by the Hemispheric Social Alliance to oppose the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Representing labour unions, social movements, indigenous, environmental and citizen organizations from throughout the Americas, the HSA has served as the mediator between multiple expressions of resistance to neo-liberalism rooted in local/national processes, and a wider strategy at the hemispheric level to pursue a sustainable and democratic form of development alternative to the FTAA project. Drawing on a political process approach from the sociology of social movements, the paper explores the challenges and opportunities of the HSA to construct political alternatives to the neo-liberal agenda of the FTAA project. The central argument is that while significant progress was achieved by the HSA in defining a hemispheric basis of consensus for an alternative political agenda, there remains the challenge of ensuring that the process of constructing such alternatives is democratic and inclusive of the grassroots sectors. On the one hand, there must be a balance between the need to increase the HSA's capacity to mobilize critical social forces from the continent in a campaign against the FTAA and, on the other hand, to ensure the cohesion of an expanding coalition increasingly under strain by the alignment of new sectors and actors. El documento analiza la formación de una coalición transnacional de organizaciones de sociedades civiles coordinadas por la Alianza Social Hemisférica para oponerse al establecimiento de un área de libre comercio entre las Américas. La Alianza Social Hemisférica, representando sindicatos laborales, movimientos sociales, indígenas, organizaciones del medio ambiente y civiles a lo largo de las Américas, ha servido como mediadora entre múltiples expresiones de resistencia a procesos neoliberales con raíces locales/nacionales y una estrategia más amplia a nivel hemisférico, para lograr una forma sostenible y democrática de alternativa de desarrollo al proyecto de un Área de Libre Comercio entre las Américas (FTAA, por sus siglas en inglés). El documento explora los retos y oportunidades de la Alianza Social Hemisférica (HSA, por sus siglas en inglés) trazando un método del proceso político de la sociología de movimientos sociales, para construir alternativas políticas al plan del proyecto del FTAA. El argumento central es que mientras se logró un progreso significativo mediante la HSA al definir una base de consenso hemisférico para un plan político alternativo, permanece el reto de asegurar que el proceso de elaborar tales alternativas sea democrático e incluya a la base y a los sectores populares. Por un lado, debe haber un equilibrio entre la necesidad de la capacidad de ampliar la Alianza Social Hemisférica (HSA, por sus siglas en inglés), para movilizar a las fuerzas sociales críticas del continente en una campaña contra el FTAA y, por el otro lado, para asegurar la cohesión de una coalición que se amplía cada vez más bajo la tensión por la alineación de nuevos sectores y actores. Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us. (Plotinus, 204–270 AD)

Simulating the Free Trade Area of the Americas

Since the early 1990s, North Americans have participated in a large political-economic experiment in a regional trade bloc called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). With NAFTA now over 10 years old, the non-NAFTA countries have been debating the merits and shortcomings of creating an expanded version of the trade agreement that would encompass virtually every state in the Americas. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would encompass 34 western hemisphere countries, over 800 million consumers, and a total economy of over $12 trillion. The debate over the FTAA raises a long list of important practical questions for each of the potential member states and their citizens. The debate also raises a host of pedagogical questions for students of the entire region and beyond. This paper describes a student-based simulation that taps into those practical and pedagogical questions. As in other simulations, such as the Model United Nations, students role-play while vicariously experiencing the opportunities and constraints facing each country as they negotiate for policy preferences.

Impactos da Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (Alca), com gradual desgravação tarifária, na economia brasileira

As barreiras comerciais protegem as economias da concorrência internacional, mas distorcem o comércio entre elas e reduzem os benefícios que poderiam advir dos acordos de livre comércio. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar os impactos da criação da Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (Alca), com desgravação tarifária gradual, nos principais indicadores da economia brasileira. O modelo de equilíbrio geral do Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) é adotado como instrumento metodológico. Somente alguns setores do agronegócio mostraram-se competitivos. O setor de manufaturados não foi competitivo em nenhum dos cenários, e os setores florestais, têxteis e calçados tiveram aumento significativo na produção e na exportação. Os indicadores de crescimento econômico e bem-estar foram favoráveis ao Brasil, em todos os cenários, mesmo que o crescimento tenha sido pequeno.

A Compilation of Reported Non-Tariff Measures: Description of the Information

The compilation of NTMs for goods and services described in this paper cover 53 countries, and it was constructed so as to focus upon members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The compilation is organized by country, category, generic barrier, specific barrier, sector, product, source, and year. It provides information on goods and services and gives the reference source for each entry. The information contained is expected to be of potential use to researchers and policymakers.