Free Trade for the Americas

The face of international trade is changing rapidly. But while much attention is focused on the new post-Doha round of WTO negotiations, there are other important developments. This book focuses on one of the most strategic – the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement – due for completion in 2005. This US initiative aims to replicate the NAFTA Agreement (binding the USA, Canada and Mexico into a free trade area since 1994) across all 34 countries of South and North America (except Cuba). This huge integrated continental market will be built around US-defined notions of free trade and protection of foreign investment, but will exclude the free movement of labour. The contributors explain the origins and ongoing process of the negotiations and why the US wants to expand its NAFTA model.