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Colonisation redux: new agreements, old games
13-Feb-2008
East Africa: Ministers propose bigger regional trading bloc
13-Feb-2008 AllAfrica.com
East Africa’s trade ministers have proposed the formation of a larger trading bloc to eliminate friction among states over deals signed with partners outside the continent. The proposal made at a meeting of the Trade ministers in Arusha last week calls for the formation of a grand Free Trade Area (FTA) consisting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc).
Canberra wants Thai services sector opened
12-Feb-2008 Bangkok Post
The Australian government will negotiate for greater opening of Thailand’s services sector this year under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement
The specter in JPEPA
12-Feb-2008 The specter in JPEPA
One does not have to be a constitutionalist, a legalist, an economist, an environmentalist, and, yes, even a pundit to see that many provisions in the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement are so frightfully flawed and to realize that it could very well become an environmental and economic nightmare for this country and its people.
Liberal party blocks talks on Korea-US FTA ratification
12-Feb-2008 Yonhap
A scheduled parliamentary discussion on the ratification of a South Korea-US free trade deal was called off Monday as members of the Democratic Labour Party blockaded the meeting venue. Meanwhile, the head of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions — a militant labor umbrella group — left for a trip to the United States Monday, vowing to nullify the motion in cooperation with US labor groups.
Sugar industry drops bid to restrict trade
12-Feb-2008 The Statesman
The US sugar industry announced Friday it was abandoning efforts to insert a provision in the federal farm bill that would renew restrictions on the sugar trade between the United States and Mexico.
TRIPS, bilateralism and patents: how they are failing both the developed and the developing world and what to do about it
11-Feb-2008 ANU
Luigi Palombi discusses TRIPS, post-TRIPS bilateralism and patents in the context of biological resources and traditional knowledge and seeks to provide a solution to the present intellectual property deadlock between the developed and developing worlds.
El Salvador’s “American-made” Terrorism Act in corporate play
11-Feb-2008 MWC News
Critics of CAFTA say it was no coincidence that the anti-terrorism legislation was enacted six months after the trade agreement. Update on the case against the Suchitoto 13.
Africa: Mass protests against EU-enforced neo-liberalism
11-Feb-2008 Socialist Youth
A part of the mass movement against the EU EPAs is drawing the conclusion that they have to find other partners in the fight against neo-liberalism. The coalition we need is an international one, of the working people and poor, that struggles against capitalism.
The European party agrees amending the Association Agreement
9-Feb-2008 El Khabar
The EU says it will revise the its Association Agreement with Algeria, pointing out competition from China and enhanced ’security’ interests
Commerce ministry opposes China FTA
9-Feb-2008 Business Standard
India’s commerce ministry has endorsed India Inc’s stand against signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with China until it becomes a market economy that follows transparent pricing of manufactured goods and services.
Tokyo ready to reopen FTA talks with Seoul: report
8-Feb-2008 Yonhap
The Japanese government hopes to reopen free trade negotiations with South Korea that have been stalled for over three years due to differences between the two sides, a Japanese newspaper said Friday.
Mexicans say: Integrate this!
8-Feb-2008 FPIF
Despite various and sometimes divergent interests, the Mexican campaign against NAFTA is finding a focus.
Why Afro-Colombians oppose the Colombia FTA
8-Feb-2008 The Hill
The US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is considered a non-starter in the US Congress because the country is the world’s deadliest for union activists. Less known, but equally disturbing is the systematic violence now confronting Afro-Colombians.
Mexican farmers protest NAFTA hardships
8-Feb-2008 PWW
Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is moving to implement a new wave of “neoliberal” policies which are being repudiated by numerous other Latin American countries.
ANC MP accuses EU of ‘recolonising’ Africa
7-Feb-2008 Business Day
The biannual meeting of European and South African parliamentarians to discuss South Africa-EU relations got off to a rocky start yesterday when a top African National Congress MP accused the Europeans of recolonising Africa through EPAs.
US signing FTA with Kuwait only a matter of time: Gutierrez
7-Feb-2008 Arab Times
"We are just waiting for the right conditions in place to sign a free trade agreement with Kuwait," said US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said on Wednesday, adding that an FTA with Egypt remains "an opportunity" and one with Libya "early" despite ongoing talks with Tripoli.
From NAFTA to the SPP: Here comes the Security and Prosperity Partnership, but—what security? whose prosperity?
7-Feb-2008 Dollars and Sense
Designed to shore up the United States’ weakening position as a global hegemon, the SPP’s primary goals are to link economic integration of the three NAFTA countries to US security needs; deepen U.S. access to oil, gas, electricity, and water resources throughout the continent; and to provide a privileged-and institutionalized-role for transnational corporations in continental deregulation. The stakes for labor, the environment, and civil liberties in all three countries couldn’t be higher. Yet because of the SPP’s reliance on executive authority to push the agenda, many of the SPP’s initiatives remain virtually invisible, even to many activists.
Govt may face ‘claims worth billions’ from foreign firms
7-Feb-2008 Engineering News
Foreign companies operating in South Africa that have lost production and ultimately profit as a result of the power supply crisis might be able to sue the government under bilateral investment treaties
The lies behind free trade
7-Feb-2008 Prensa Latina
Rich countries preach free markets and free trade to the poor countries in order to capture larger shares of the latter’s markets and preempt the emergence of possible competitors, says Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang.