Free Trade Area of Americas

Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) was the effort to unite the economies of the Western Hemisphere into a single free trade arrangement. It was initiated at the Summit of the Americas on December of 1994 in Miami. The initiative was buried in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Nov. 4-5, 2005.

Overview
The Heads of State of the 34 democracies in the region agreed in 1994 to construct a "Free Trade Area of the Americas" or FTAA and to complete negotiations for the agreement by 2005.

The states were: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the United States of America, and Venezuela.

The leaders also made a commitment to achieve substantial progress toward building the FTAA by 2000. Their decisions can be found in the Summit's Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action.


 * "Our objective with FTAA is to guarantee North American companies the control of a territory that goes from the Arctic Pole all the way to Antarctica, free access to the whole hemisphere without difficulties or obstacles for our products, services, technology, and capital." U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell

For many of the social movements in Latin America and the Caribbean, the FTAA is viewed as a project drawn up by Washington to expand dominion and economic control. It would drive millions into poverty and bankrupt local businesses unable to compete with global corporations.

Generally opposed

 * Public Citizen/Global Trade Watch
 * stopftaa.org
 * Global Exchange
 * OrganicConsumers.org

Generally affirm

 * U.S. Dept. of State

Neutral

 * Institute for Policy Studies

Opinion

 * "FTAA is a project that is trying to obscure the intentions of multinational energy companies to control the richest recourses of the country. The FTAA would push Bolivia into nothing more than a cheap reserve of natural resources."


 * "Negotiated behind closed doors, with little citizen input but plenty of suggestions from corporations, the FTAA is yet another example of the kind of free-market fundamentalism that has created a global race to the bottom that erodes environmental protection, workers' livelihoods, and human rights."

Contact
website: ftaa-alca.org

SourceWatch articles

 * ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
 * Bilderberg
 * David Rockefeller
 * free trade
 * globalization
 * Global insurgency for change
 * Imperial terror in South America
 * NAFTA
 * privatization
 * Trilateral Commission

External articles

 * William F. Jasper A NAFTA/FTAA Rogues' Gallery, NY Transfer News, July 2004