United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-09-07 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-01-1027 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027 P0b002ee180389701 f:d011027 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027 GAO-01-1027 Foreign trade agreements International trade International trade regulation International organizations Economic analysis Foreign trade policies Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement Other Written Product A01753 The 34 democratic countries of the Western Hemisphere pledged in December 1994 to form the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) no later than 2005. The FTAA agreement would eliminate tariffs and create common trade and investment rules among the nations of the Western Hemisphere. When completed, the FTAA agreement will cover about 800 million people, more than $11 trillion in production, and $3.4 trillion in world trade. The five FTAA negotiating groups pursuing liberalization of trade and investment--market access, agriculture, investment, services, and government procurement--have submitted initial proposals and agreed on a date to begin market access negotiations, but the groups face short-term and long-term issues. In the short-term, these groups must resolve a number of practical issues in order to begin negotiations on market access schedules no later than May 15, 2002, and to narrow differences and prepare revised trade rule chapters by August 2002. Over the long-term, these market-opening groups face fundamental questions about how much and how fast to liberalize. Narrowing outstanding differences may be difficult for the four other negotiating groups, which have made initial proposals on rules governing intellectual property; subsidies, antidumping, and countervailing duties; competition policy; and dispute settlement. Some groups face fundamental differences. Other negotiating groups have reached agreement on basic principles but disagree on key details. Two of the three crosscutting themes--smaller economies and civil society--have proven controversial. Because the FTAA's smaller economies are concerned over their capacity to implement such a vast agreement and its potential economic effects on their countries, they have been seeking assurances of technical assistance and other special treatment. The FTAA process has been viewed as not sufficiently open to the public, and past efforts to include nongovernmental interests, such as business, labor, the environment, and academia, have been widely seen as ineffective. Some steps have been taken to address these concerns, and other steps are being considered. As a comprehensive agreement, the FTAA could have wide-ranging effects on U.S. trade and investment with other Western Hemisphere countries. The elimination of tariff and nontariff barriers would improve U.S. market access; put U.S. exporters on an equal footing with competitors in FTAA markets; and expand trade, particularly in highly protected sectors such as agriculture. On the other hand, certain protected U.S. sectors, including textiles, apparel, and agricultural goods such as sugar and citrus, may face increased import competition and declining production if barriers were lowered. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027.htm GAO-01-1027 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1027 Other Written Product GAO-01-1027; Free Trade Area Of The Americas: Negotiators Move Toward Agreement That Will Have Benefits, Costs to U.S. Economy; Foreign trade agreements International trade International trade regulation International organizations Economic analysis Foreign trade policies Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement Public Law 102-600