Free Trade Area of the Americas

The Free Trade Area of the Americas is intended as a successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement and is still under negotiation. The current drafts would require, among other things, that member countries to subscribe to a large collection of intellectual property agreements.

Some additional points about the FTAA:

• Privatization of essential public services like water, education, and health care.
• Corporate reductions of wages, environmental standards and economic insecurity.
• Corporate freedom to sue governments and weaken local, state and national laws that stand in the way of profits.

see also trade, international trade, trade blocks

External links and sources

• The official home page of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process (http://www.ftaa-alca.org/)
• Background information about the FTAA and public participation (http://www.peoplesconsultation.org/education/background.html)
• PDF Comparing the official agreement and alternative visions (http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/global_econ/FTAA%20chart%20-%20english%20-%20final.pdf)