Has the Free Trade Area of America been established?

It must have been established a long time ago.

Free Trade Area of America (FTAA), including 34 countries in America.

I. Background of the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas

The idea of Free Trade Area of America (FTAA) was put forward at the Hemispheric Summit held in Miami in 1994 1994, with the goal of establishing the world's largest FTAA in the western hemisphere with an annual GDP of $ KLOC-0.4 trillion and a population of 800 million in early 2005. After the establishment of FTAA, it will be the largest free trade area in the world, and it will confront the European Union (EU). However, in this vast area, there are the United States, the world superpower, and Haiti, which has been lagging behind for a long time (in 2003, the per capita GDP of the United States was $37,800, while Haiti was only $380), which is very different. There are several main reasons why American countries with great economic disparities have come together to realize a free trade area:

1, the protagonist of America

For the economic growth of America. 1988, the United States passed the 1988 comprehensive trade and competitiveness act, which defined the strategy of promoting domestic economic growth through bilateral, multilateral and regional trade. On the one hand, the United States supports the World Trade Organization and advocates the multilateral trading system, on the other hand, it attaches more importance to bilateral trade, and has successively signed bilateral free trade agreements with Canada, Israel, Chile and other countries. In order to protect its own interests in international trade, the United States has also revised Article 30 1 of the 1974 Trade Law, giving trade negotiators greater powers, such as investigating trade barriers of other countries and taking revenge on them accordingly. In addition, the United States is also considering strengthening its strategic position in the western hemisphere by establishing regional free trade. Although this idea was not optimistic at that time, it laid the foundation for the later establishment of NAFTA and FTAA.

For the safety of America. From 1960s to 1980s, many Latin American countries suffered from debt crisis, economic depression and deepening social contradictions. At that time, nationalism in this region was high, and the import substitution strategy made it difficult for American economic forces to penetrate. Armed struggle is rampant in some countries, and drug trafficking and illegal immigration are increasingly rampant, posing a great threat to the national security of the United States.

To contain the interference and challenges of other big countries outside the region. Europe and Japan became richer and richer in the 1980s. They not only crowd out American forces in their respective regions, but also extend their tentacles to Latin America, becoming powerful competitors of the United States in banking, telecommunications, automobile manufacturing and other fields.

In short, in order to safeguard its own security and national interests and consolidate its hegemonic position in the western hemisphere, the United States actively advocates the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. It is worth noting that this proposal put forward by the United States is by no means an expedient measure, nor is it a simple political gesture. It represents an important choice of American foreign economic policy.

2. The needs of Latin American countries to develop their own economies

In 1980s, some Latin American countries, especially Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, suffered from debt crisis. In the economic recession of 10, these countries have realized that the development model of import substitution economy pursued for decades has come to an end, and they urgently need economic reform. They are eager to strengthen cooperation with the United States and Canada in trade, investment, loans, technology transfer and ecological environment, so as to accelerate their own economic development and improve their comprehensive national strength and international competitiveness. In the late 1980s, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, global economic integration developed rapidly, and the European Union, the North American Free Trade Area and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation were established one after another. Many Latin American countries are extremely worried about this, fearing that they will be left out of the "big trade circle" and "ignored by developed countries". The establishment of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) has brought many shocks and inspirations to these countries, made them see the huge benefits that Mexico has gained because of its proximity to the United States and Canada, aroused their strong desire to reposition themselves in the international political and economic structure, and supported the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

3. Canada has a positive attitude.

Because more than 86% of Canada's export products are sold to the United States, the annual trade volume between Canada and the United States exceeds 500 billion Canadian dollars, and the North American Free Trade Agreement has been signed with the United States and Mexico, Canada does not regard FTAA as the top priority. However, because this matter is directly related to Canada's vital interests, the Canadian government still holds a positive attitude towards it. At present, Canada's investment in Central and South America has reached 43.6 billion Canadian dollars, the annual trade in goods is about 9 billion Canadian dollars, and the export of service trade (mainly including telecommunications, finance, engineering, etc.). ) is 2 billion Canadian dollars.

Two. Progress of Free Trade Area of America

According to the decision of the 34-nation Summit in Miami 1994, the NAFTA negotiations ended in early 2005 on the basis of the south expansion of NAFTA. Since 10, FTAA has made great progress in some aspects, mainly in the following aspects:

1, the United States passed the Trade Authorization Act.

After eight years of shelving, the US Congress finally passed the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) on August 7, 2002, which restored the "fast track" for the government to negotiate foreign trade free agreements. This authorization period is three years, which can be extended for two years with the consent of the National Assembly. This bill paves the way for the U.S. government to participate in the new round of WTO multilateral negotiations and foreign negotiations on free trade agreements. Although this authorization is not only for FTAA, it gives a green light to the substantive negotiation and final success of FTAA.

2. The United States has signed bilateral free trade agreements with some countries in Central America.

The United States and Chile signed a free trade agreement. Trade negotiators from the United States and Chile have been in contact since the end of 20001. After nearly a year of negotiations, they compromised each other and reached an agreement on lifting import and export tariff restrictions, market access, strengthening private investment and intellectual property rights. From June 5438 to February 2002, the United States and Chile formally signed a free trade agreement, which was the first free trade agreement signed between the United States and South American countries, marking an important progress in the negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

The United States has signed free trade agreements with Colombia and other countries. In the past, the economic and trade relations between the United States and Central America were always initiated by Central American countries, and the United States was in a passive position. However, at the end of 2003, during the eighth ministerial meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the United States took the initiative to announce its agreement to negotiate and sign bilateral free trade agreements with Andean countries such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. In addition, the United States is negotiating bilateral free trade agreements with five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) and Dominica and Panama. So far, the United States has signed or intends to sign bilateral free trade agreements with 14 of the 34 countries in the American continent.

3. Knowledge of the American Free Trade Framework Agreement.

While the United States is conducting bilateral free trade negotiations with some Central American countries, the negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas among 34 countries in the Americas have not been interrupted. The Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas was held in Miami, USA from June 5 to 26, 2003. At this meeting, all member States adopted a more flexible and pragmatic attitude. After mutual compromise, the meeting reached the following understanding on the framework agreement of the free trade area: the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas will respect the different levels of economic development among member countries and their sensitive goods and services, and allow different levels of commitment to open their own markets; Regional organizations participating in the negotiations will reach an agreement on the basic rights and obligations of free trade areas, but members can achieve greater openness in some areas through bilateral or regional agreements; Domestic agricultural subsidies and anti-dumping issues, as well as investment, intellectual property protection, government procurement and other issues will be discussed under the WTO or bilateral and multilateral frameworks; Reaffirm that the Free Trade Area of the Americas will be launched from June 5th to1October 5th, 2005 at the latest.

As can be seen from the above terms, although the 34 countries in America have reached a consensus on the framework agreement on free trade, it has actually been deformed, because it is only an agreement reached by countries according to their own needs. A prominent feature of the agreement is that each signatory country has the right to choose some clauses of the framework agreement that suit its own needs on a voluntary basis, and at the same time, it can withdraw some clauses of the framework agreement according to its own wishes. This makes the "comprehensive" and "comprehensive" free trade agreements, which should be fully bound, eventually become a "buffet-style" trade framework agreement that is unconstrained and chooses certain terms completely according to its own wishes. Nevertheless, the understanding reached by the trade ministers of the Americas can be regarded as another important progress in the long process of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Third, the development prospect of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

It has been 10 years since the first Summit of the Americas was held in Miami in February, 1994. During the period of 10, FTAA experienced two summits in Santiago and Quebec, as well as several meetings of trade ministers. Generally speaking, the FTA negotiations are progressing slowly, and no substantive agreement has been reached on key issues such as agricultural subsidies, tariff reduction and exemption, and market access. Although successive summits have repeatedly reiterated the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2005, the negotiations have remained at the agenda and framework level, and it is impossible to go deep. The main reasons are as follows:

The parties to the negotiations did not compromise with each other, which led to many fruitless negotiations. Since Miami Conference reached a compromise "buffet-style" framework agreement on free trade in the Americas in June 5438+065438+ 10, 2003, the participants have held two contacts and consultations on how to realize the specific terms of the free trade agreement, but so far, little progress has been made. During the meeting of 34 US Deputy Trade Ministers held in Mexico in February 2004, no written agreement was reached on direct investment, intellectual property protection, fair competition, agricultural subsidies, market access, anti-dumping and dispute settlement. Until the end of the negotiations, due to serious differences between the negotiating parties, almost half of the clauses in the documents available for signing were not adopted. In April, 2004, a new round of informal consultations of vice ministers of trade of the Americas was held in Argentina. Because the United States refused to make concessions on agricultural subsidies, it caused strong dissatisfaction among Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina. As a result, the meeting ended in failure and no valuable free trade agreement terms were reached.

There are many problems in Latin American countries, which are difficult to reconcile with the interests of developed countries. In the process of FTAA negotiations, Latin American countries experienced hardships, political turmoil and economic shocks, such as the Mexican peso 1995 crash, which implicated many Latin American countries; 1998- 1999 Brazil's financial crisis has hindered domestic reform and trade liberalization in Latin American countries; In 200 1 year, a serious currency crisis broke out in Argentina, and economic growth came to a standstill. Because there are many unstable factors in Latin American countries, all countries are facing many urgent problems, so many Latin American countries put forward whether to give them a long transition period in negotiations in order to integrate into the Free Trade Area of the Americas as soon as possible. The United States and Canada have repeatedly stressed that the Free Trade Area of the Americas should adopt a "one size fits all" approach and rejected the initiative to provide a longer transition period for the underdeveloped countries in the Americas. Developed and developing countries in the United States hold their own opinions, and their interests are difficult to coordinate.

The rise of American trade protectionism has deepened the doubts of Latin American countries. Due to the high anti-economic globalization in the United States, trade protectionism is on the rise. In recent years, the United States has successively raised tariffs on imported steel, cancelled preferential treatment for clothing imports from Caribbean and Central American countries, and imposed anti-dumping duties on Canadian timber imports. In particular, the new agricultural bill passed by the US Congress has greatly increased the subsidies for agriculture. These protectionist measures have aroused strong dissatisfaction and opposition from Canada and Latin American countries, made Latin American countries doubt the sincerity of the United States in opening its market, and deepened their doubts about whether they can really benefit from FTAA.

The differences between the United States and Brazil have affected the negotiation process of the Free Trade Area of the Americas to some extent. The differences between the United States and Brazil have a long history, mainly reflected in the ways and means of establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas. How to make developing countries in the Americas narrow the gap with developed countries in the region as soon as possible; How to strengthen the market access mechanism of developing countries in the Americas; How does the United States resolve the differences between developed and developing countries on agricultural subsidies? As a big Latin American country, Brazil has repeatedly competed with the United States in FTA negotiations. Because of the differences between the two countries on many issues, it has a great influence on the negotiation process of FTAA. In view of the fact that the degree of bridging the differences between the United States and Pakistan is related to the success or failure of FTAA negotiations, the United States took advantage of the fact that the two countries are co-chairs of FTAA negotiations and tried to win over Brazil to further promote FTAA negotiations.

According to the current actual progress, it seems difficult to conclude the FTAA negotiations before 2005 1, and it is difficult to predict when FTAA will start. However, with the current strength, status and hegemonic momentum of the United States, it can be expected that it will spare no effort to promote the development process of FTAA by any means until it finally achieves its own goals; Latin American countries will make joint efforts to promote the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas for the needs of stabilizing political situation, eliminating poverty and developing economy. With the continuous development of regional cooperation between Europe and Asia, it will be the general trend to establish a free trade area of the Americas, and it is also widely expected to establish a broad and "flexible" free trade area of the Americas. However, it is foreseeable that trade disputes between American countries will continue to exist, and there may be fierce disputes when touching sensitive areas. The road to establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas will be a thorny road where cooperation and conflict coexist.