TheFree Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA,Spanish:Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas,ALCA,Portuguese:Área de Livre Comércio das Américas,ALCA,French: Zone de libre-échange des Amériques,ZLEA) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce thetrade barriers among all countries in theAmericas, excludingCuba. Negotiations to establish the FTAA ended in failure, however, with all parties unable to reach an agreement by the 2005 deadline they had set for themselves.
Discussions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas began at thefirst Summit of the Americas inMiami on December 11, 1994. The FTAA came to public attention during thethird summit, held inQuebec City in 2001, as the meeting was targeted by largeanti-corporatization andanti-globalization protests. The Miami negotiations in 2003 met similar protests, though not as large.
In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met inMiami, Florida, in the United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal.[1] The proposed agreement was an extension of theNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Discussions have faltered over similar points as theDoha Development Round ofWorld Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations sought expanded trade inservices and increasedintellectual property rights, while less developed nations sought an end toagricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil took a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States took a similar role for the developed nations.
In previous negotiations, the United States had pushed for a single comprehensive agreement to reduce trade barriers for goods, while increasing intellectual property protection. Specific intellectual property protections could includeDigital Millennium Copyright Act style copyright protections similar to theU.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Another protection would likely have restricted the importation or cross importation of pharmaceuticals, similar to the proposed agreement between the United States and Canada. Brazil posed a three-track approach that called for a series of bilateral agreements to reduce specific tariffs on goods, a hemispheric pact onrules of origin, and a dispute resolution process Brazil proposed to omit the more controversial issues from the FTA, leaving them to the WTO.
The location of the FTA Secretariat was to have been determined in 2005. The contending cities were:Atlanta,Chicago,Galveston,Houston,San Juan, andMiami in the United States;Cancún andPuebla in Mexico;Panama City, Panama; andPort of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago. The U.S. city ofColorado Springs also submitted its candidacy in the early days but subsequently withdrew.[2] Miami, Panama City and Puebla served successively an interim secretariat headquarters during the negotiation process.
The last summit was held atMar del Plata, Argentina, in November 2005, but no agreement on FTA was reached. Of the 39 countries present at the negotiations, 20 pledged to meet again in 2006 to resume negotiations, but no meeting took place. The failure of the Mar del Plata summit to establish a comprehensive FTA agenda augured poorly.
The FTAA missed the targeted deadline of 2005, which followed the stalling of useful negotiations of theWorld Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005.[3] Over the next few years, some governments, most notably the United States, not wanting to lose any chance of hemispheric trade expansion moved in the direction of establishing a series of bilateral trade deals. The leaders planned further discussions at the6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia in 2012, but these discussions did not take place.[4][5]
As of 2022, U.S. trade policy reflected a withdrawal from a reliance on trade agreements, with a preference for smaller bilateral deals.[6]
The following countries were planned to be part of the Free Trade Area of the Americas:[7]
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A vocal critic of the FTAA was Venezuelan presidentHugo Chávez, who has described it as an "annexation plan" and a "tool ofimperialism" for the exploitation of South America.[8] As a counterproposal to this initiative, Chávez promoted theBolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alianza Bolivariana para las Américas, ALBA) which emphasizes energy and infrastructure agreements among underdeveloped American nations.[8]Evo Morales of Bolivia has referred to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, as "an agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas".[9]
On the other hand, the then presidents of Brazil,Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentina,Néstor Kirchner, have stated that they do not oppose the FTAA but they do demand that the agreement provide for the elimination of U.S. agriculturesubsidies, the provision of effective access to foreign markets and further consideration towards the needs and sensibilities of its members.[10]
One of the most contentious issues of the treaty proposed by the United States is with concerns topatents andcopyrights. Critics claim that if the measures proposed by the United States were implemented and applied this would reduce scientific research in underdeveloped countries of the Americas. On theCouncil of Canadians web site,Maude Barlow wrote: "This agreement sets enforceable global rules on patents, copyrights and trademark. It has gone far beyond its initial scope of protecting original inventions or cultural products and now permits the practice of patenting plants and animal forms as well as seeds. It promotes the private rights of corporations over local communities and their genetic heritage and traditional medicines".[11]
On the weekend of April 20, 2001, the3rd Summit of the Americas was asummit held inQuebec City, Canada. This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed FTAA.
There are currently 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere, stretching from Canada to Chile that still have the FTAA as a long-term goal.[12] The Implementation of a full multilateral FTAA between all parties could be made possible by enlargement of existing agreements. At this point Agreements within the Area of the Americas include:
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