The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the
trade barriers
Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. According to the theory of comparative advantage, trade barriers are detrimental to the world economy and decrease overall economic efficiency.
Most trade barriers work ...
among all countries in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, excluding
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. 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. Still, contemporary discourses have not been invalidated – re-newed talks are anticipated .
History
In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, Florida, in the United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal. The proposed agreement was an extension of the
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
(NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Discussions have faltered over similar points as the
Doha Development Round
The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which commenced in November 2001 under then director-general Mike Moore. Its objective was to lower trade barriers ...
of
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
(WTO) talks; developed nations sought expanded trade in
services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
and increased
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
rights, while less developed nations sought an end to
agricultural subsidies
An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, and influence the ...
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.
Origins
Free Trade Area of the Americas began with the
Summit of the Americas
The Summit of the Americas (SOA) is an international summit meeting that brings together the leaders of countries in the Organization of American States (OAS). Cuba was expelled from the OAS under pressure from the United States after the Cuban Re ...
in Miami, Florida, on December 11, 1994, but the FTAA came to public attention during the
Quebec City Summit of the Americas
The 3rd Summit of the Americas was a summit held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on April 20–22, 2001.
This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. The talks are perhaps bette ...
, held in Canada in 2001, a meeting targeted by massive
anti-corporatization and
anti-globalization protests. The Miami negotiations in 2003 met similar protests, though not as large.
Disagreements
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 include
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
style copyright protections similar to the
U.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 on
rules of origin
Rules of origin are the rules to attribute a country of origin to a product in order to determine its "economic nationality". The need to establish rules of origin stems from the fact that the implementation of trade policy measures, such as tari ...
, 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
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
,
Galveston
Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
San Juan, and
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in the United States;
Cancún
Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...
and
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
in Mexico;
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
, Panama; and
Port of Spain
Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
. The U.S. city of
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
also submitted its candidacy in the early days but subsequently withdrew. Miami, Panama City and Puebla served successively an interim secretariat headquarters during the negotiation process.
The last summit was held at
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
, 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.
Current status
The FTAA missed the targeted deadline of 2005, which followed the stalling of useful negotiations of the
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005
The Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, also known as the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and abbreviated as MC6, was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong from 13 to 18 Dece ...
. 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 however, planned further discussions at the
6th Summit of the Americas
The sixth Summit of the Americas ( es, VI Cumbre de las Américas, links=no) was held at Cartagena, Colombia, on April 14–15, 2012. The central theme of the summit was "Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity." The main issues at the sum ...
in Cartagena, Colombia in 2012, although these discussions did not take place.
Membership
The following countries were planned to be part of the Free Trade Area of the Americas:
*
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Support and opposition
A vocal critic of the FTAA was Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
, who has described it as an "
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
plan" and a "tool of
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
" for the exploitation of Latin America.
As a counterproposal to this initiative, Chávez promoted the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...
(''Alianza Bolivariana para las Américas'', ALBA) which emphasizes energy and infrastructure agreements.
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...
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".
On the other hand, the then presidents of Brazil,
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
, and Argentina,
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
, have stated that they do not oppose the FTAA but they do demand that the agreement provide for the elimination of U.S. agriculture
subsidies
A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
, the provision of effective access to foreign markets and further consideration towards the needs and sensibilities of its members.
One of the most contentious issues of the treaty proposed by the United States is with concerns to
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
s and
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
s. Critics claim that if the measures proposed by the United States were implemented and applied this would reduce scientific research in Latin America. On the
Council of Canadians
The Council of Canadians is a Canadian non-profit organization that advocates for clean water, fair trade, green energy, public health care, and a vibrant democracy. The organization is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario with regional offices in H ...
web site, 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".
On the weekend of April 20, 2001, the
3rd Summit of the Americas was a
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
held in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
, Canada. This international meeting was a round of negotiations regarding a proposed FTAA.
Agreements
There are currently 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere, stretching from Canada to Chile that still have the FTAA as a long-term goal. 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:
Previous agreements
* Canada:
Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement
The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America (french: links=no, Accord de libre-échange entre le Canada et les États-Unis d'Amérique), wa ...
(1988; superseded by the NAFTA)
* Canada, Mexico and United States:
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
(1994; superseded by the USMCA)
* Costa Rica- Dominican Republic (superseded by
DR-CAFTA)
* Costa Rica- Trinidad and Tobago (superseded by a Costa Rica –
CARICOM FTA).
Current agreements
* Canada, Mexico and United States:
United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement
The Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada (USMCA) Commonly known as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the United States and the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CU ...
(USMCA; 2020)
* Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and United States:
Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement
:''Note: Within this article, "CAFTA" refers to the agreement as it stood before January 2004, and "CAFTA-DR" is used after that.''
The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR; Spanish: ''Tratado de Libre ...
(DR-CAFTA; 2008)
* Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru:
Pacific Alliance
The Pacific Alliance ( es, link=no, Alianza del Pacífico) is a Latin American trade bloc, formed by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, which all border the Pacific Ocean. The alliance was formed with the express purpose of improving regional in ...
(2012)
*
Chile–United States Free Trade Agreement
The United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement is a free trade agreement between the United States and Chile signed on June 6, 2003. The pact came into force on January 1, 2004. On that date, tariffs on 90% of U.S. exports to Chile and 95% of Chil ...
(2004)
*
Peru–United States Trade Promotion Agreement The United States–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement ( es, Acuerdo de Promoción Comercial Perú – Estados Unidos o Tratado de Libre Comercio Perú – Estados Unidos) is a bilateral free trade agreement, whose objectives are eliminating obstacles t ...
(2007)
*
United States–Colombia Free Trade Agreement (2011)
*
Panama–United States Trade Promotion Agreement (2011)
* Canada – Chile
* Canada – Colombia
* Canada – Costa Rica
* Canada – Honduras
* Canada – Panama
* Canada – Peru
* Chile – Mexico
* Chile – Costa Rica
* Colombia – CARICOM
* Colombia – Costa Rica
* Colombia –
Northern Triangle
The Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the three Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The term is used with respect to the countries' economic ...
* Costa Rica – Mexico
* Costa Rica – CARICOM
* Mexico – Nicaragua
* Mexico – Uruguay
* Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela –
Mercosur
The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina ...
(1991)
* Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru –
Andean Community
The Andean Community ( es, Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact ...
(1969)
Proposed agreements
; Active negotiations
* Canada-CARICOM:
* Canada-Central America (CA4TA – Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras)
* Canada-Mexico-Peru-Chile
mong other Pacific nations Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Sin ...
; Negotiations on hold
* CARICOM-
Mercosur
The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina ...
:
* United States-Ecuador:
U.S.-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement
* CARICOM-North American Free Trade Agreement, first discussed in 1993–1994
Security pacts
* United States-Central America-Mexico (
Mérida Initiative
The Mérida Initiative (named after Mérida (Yucatán), the city where it was agreed upon, also called Plan Mexico, in reference to Plan Colombia) is a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico and the countri ...
)
* United States-CARICOM-Dominican Republic (
Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean
The Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean (PPS) is a regional-level dialogue with the stated purpose of providing greater cooperation on security and economic issues. The Partnership was founded in Bridgetown, Barbados on March ...
See also
*
Rules of Origin
Rules of origin are the rules to attribute a country of origin to a product in order to determine its "economic nationality". The need to establish rules of origin stems from the fact that the implementation of trade policy measures, such as tari ...
*
Market access
In international trade, market access is a company's ability to enter a foreign market by selling its goods and services in another country. Market access is not the same as free trade, because market access is normally subject to conditions or req ...
*
Free-trade area
A free-trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers, import quotas and tariffs, and ...
*
Tariffs
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
*
Miami model
The Miami model are the tactics employed by coordinated law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies during demonstrations in Miami, Florida relating to the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) trade agreement in Novembe ...
*
Pacific Alliance
The Pacific Alliance ( es, link=no, Alianza del Pacífico) is a Latin American trade bloc, formed by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, which all border the Pacific Ocean. The alliance was formed with the express purpose of improving regional in ...
*
Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty
The World Intellectual Property Organization's Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty or the Broadcast Treaty is a proposed treaty designed to afford broadcasters some control and copyright-like control over the content of ...
*
Transatlantic Free Trade Area
A Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) is a proposal to create a free-trade agreement covering Europe and North America, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Such proposals have been made since the 1990s. Between 2013 and about 2017 an agree ...
(TAFTA)
*
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
*
Union of South American Nations
The Union of South American Nations (USAN; es, links=no, Unión de Naciones Suramericanas, UNASUR; pt, links=no, União de Nações Sul-Americanas, UNASUL; nl, links=no, Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, UZAN; French: ''Union des nations s ...
References
External links
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process – official home page Comparing the official agreement and alternative visions*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080408141442/http://www.southernaffairs.org/2008_04_01_archive.html Chilean and Foreign PolicyMit.edu
Harvard.edu By Eric Farnsworth, Council of the Americas, December 2005
Whither the FTAA?(November 10, 2005), Guyana Chronicle Newspaper
The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
(washtimes.com AP)
Myths of the FTAA FoodFirst.org Institute for Food and Development Policy
Why say no to FTAA bilaterals.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Trade Area Of The Americas
FTAA
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas, excluding Cuba. Negotiations to establish the FTAA ended in failure, however, with all parties unab ...
Foreign relations of Argentina
Politics of the Americas
Trade blocs
United States federal trade legislation
Proposed free trade agreements
Free-trade areas
Foreign trade of Argentina