F.T.A.A.

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F.T.A.A.

• Free Trade Area of the Americas

Nicole Anello Kara Breissinger Neena
Dreslin Nicholas Lee
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NAFTA- Objectives

• Reduce trade barriers between parties
• Promote conditions of fair competition
• Increase investment opportunities
• Protection of intellectual property rights
• Overall, to benefit all members through increased
  and fairer trade practices

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NAFTA

• PROS
• Created jobs in Mexico
• Increased trade between all partners
• Reduced tariffs and non-tariff barriers

• CONS
• Pollution at the Mexican border
• Very low wages
• Poor labor standards in Mexico
• U.S. jobs lost

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Objectives vs. Reality

• U.S. companies want to take advantage of low cost
  labor
• They want to get away from unions
• Hoped to build lucrative markets in Northern
  Mexico

• The low cost labor is preventing Mexicans from
  improving their standard of living
• No unionsunfair working conditions
• Crime is increasing, native work force is being
  exhausted

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What is going on today??

• The facts show that Mexico has been harmed in
  many ways
• U.S. blue-collar jobs have decreased on the whole
• The net impact of immigration should be that it
  will decrease
• Cultural identity is being lost

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Sweatshops Human Rights

• Proponents of NAFTA Push
• More Jobs (US, Mexico, and Canada)
• Higher Wages
• Better Deals on Goods and Services
• Effects
• US workers lost hundreds of thousands of jobs
• Mexican workers encountered low wages and unfair
  labor practices

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Claim Against Washington State Apple Industry

• Failure of US Labor Law to Protect Workers
  Rights
• Inadequacy and Failure of US Labor Law
• Mary Mendez (worked 7 years in apple industry)
• Difficulty Forming Union (armed guards)
• Threatened with Immigration
• Unfair Wage Reductions if in Union
• Anti-union Propaganda and Threats

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In Addition

• Illegal Chemical Hazards
• Fired and Overworked Injured People
• Anglos had lighter jobs and are better paid
• May take up to two years for Labor Law Violations
  to Reach Arbitration

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Chapter 11

• Purpose
• To ensure that US investors abroad receive the
  same type of protection that foreign investors
  get in the US with or without a treaty
• Reality
• May lead to a fundamentally different world in
  the degree of power corporations hold on
  democratic governments -Dan Seligman, Director
  of the Sierra Clubs Trading Program

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Chapter 11 in Practice

• California Case Methanex v. the US
• Methanex, a Canadian Company
• Produces Gasoline Additive MTBE
• Caused cancer in lab animals
• Gov. Gray Davis authorized its phase out
• Filed a suit for 970 million in compensation
• Behind closed doors
• Questions our own sovereignty
• Is it our decision or an un-elected bodys
  decision?
• NAFTA denies tribunals the power to overrule
  state law

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History of the FTAAFree Trade Area of the
Americas

• First Summit of the Americas Miami, 1994
• 34 heads of state
• addressed common issues and sought solutions to
  shared problems
• Declaration of Principles
• defined the goals of the FTAA
• 12 working groups established
• negotiate for the FTAA
• lead to a committed initiation of FTAA
  negotiations in 1998

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What Does it Mean for the US in the future?

• Possible free trade with all countries of North,
  Central, and South America
• Increased competition and standards for US made
  goods and services
• Further integration similar to the modern day
  European Union
• Creation of a single currency and common market

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General Objectives

• To promote prosperity through increased economic
  integration and free trade among the countries of
  our hemisphere.
• To establish a Free Trade Area, concluding
  negotiations by 2005.
• To maximize market openness through high levels
  of disciplines.

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General Objectives

• To provide opportunities to facilitate the
  integration of the smaller economies in the FTAA.
• To strive to make our trade liberalization and
  environmental policies mutually supportive.
• To secure observance and promotion of workers
  rights.

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PROS CONS

• Free trade region
• Benefits of further integration
• Increased competition
• Promote prosperity

• Congress not involved
• NGOs denied participation
• Extreme power given to corporations
• Deepen negative effects of NAFTA

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Possible Negative Effects

• Ability of corporations to bypass environmental
  and worker protection laws
• Services will be liberalized
• Exacerbation of environmental destruction
• Negative expansion of IPR
• Increase use of GMOs

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Human Rights

• Largest fear
• FTAA values corporate profits over human costs
• increase of poverty and inequality

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QUESTIONS?