Romney’s Plan for Pan American Free Trade does Nothing
[IMG]
[/IMG]
On 21 Aug., Mitt Romney announced a trade policy “focused primarily, but not exclusively, on Latin America.” The presidential hopeful outlined his desire to rekindle the flames of a Pan American free trade zone, a fire smothered in 2005 by opposition from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Dominica. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) proposed in 1994 by President Clinton, would have created a 34 nation trading bloc – arguably the largest and most ambitious in the world, given the variability of development profiles among potential member states.
...
However, such a plan would most likely fail or produce an impotent version of an original proposal. Simply put, the US has little power to sway the Brazilian giant, which already scrambles to protect its resilient, yet troubled domestic industry. Additionally, the US would bypass Argentina and other left-leaning ALBA states from an agreement. Under these conditions, a Pan American free trade zone would include Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru and Mexico. But the US already has regional FTAs with Central America and Mexico, and Bilateral ones with Peru, Colombia, and Chile. So essentially, a positive outcome means exactly what we already have, but under a different name. Similarly, a negative outcome means exactly what we already have, plus another diplomatic failure.
...
more:http://revpana.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/344/
= new reply since forum marked as read
