Free Trade Agreements
The original intent of free trade agreements was to maintain policies in which governments do not discriminate against imports or interfere with exports, but do not necessarily abandon all control or taxation of these.
Posted inSome of the most popular agreements include:
- Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
- Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement(DR-CAFTA)
However, the reality of free trade agreements, as informed by their track records, is one where deregulated markets have only generated corporate ascendancy, erosion of the common wealth and democratic governance, and a lack of public accountability.
These trends have undermined the sovereignty of nations and the economic stability of millions of workers.
Multilateral trade agreements are amongst multiple countries but typically favor the right of transnational corporations to maximize their profits.Keywords: FTAA, NAFTA, DR-CAFTA, expropriation
Bilateral trade agreements, those between two countries, have come to the forefront due to effective mass mobilization against multilateral agreements. The shift to bilateral agreements is characterized by limited economic integration and domination by the more developed nation. Bilateral agreements typically do not address foreign subsidies which create oversaturated foreign markets and drown the development of many struggling nations.Resources
Sites - Multilateral
- Official site of the defunct FTAA or ALCA
- Top 10 reasons to oppose FTAA
- US Trade Representative: FTAA, DR-CAFTA, other agreements
- Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
- Citizens Trade Campaign
- Forum for stopping European EPAs
Sites - Bilateral
- Hemispheric database
- The Washington Office on Latin America
- Eyes on Trade
- Institute for Policy Studies
- Against bilateral trade and investment
- LATN-The Latin American Trade Network
- Stop DR-CAFTA
- InterAction DR-CAFTA library