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Geopolitical tsunami in the Southern Cone
9-Aug-2012 Americas Program
When the Paraguayan Senate approved the “political judgment” against Fernando Lugo on June 22, it unleashed the biggest political crisis in the Mercosur in the last 20 years. The dust still hasn’t settled, but it’s clear that nothing will be the same since the shake-up.
Ex-GM workers in Colombia sew lips shut in protest
9-Aug-2012 WSJ
The former GM workers chose the grounds next to the US Embassy to stage their hunger strike because of the labor action plan agreed to between Colombia and the US last year under the countries’ free trade agreement — which both governments, and General Motors, have igored.
China offers protection to Taiwan investors
9-Aug-2012 FT
China and Taiwan have signed their first investor-protection agreement in the latest sign of the momentum behind President Ma Ying-jeou’s drive to strengthen his country’s relationship with China, its biggest trade partner and frequent political adversary.
Libre-échange auto: la Corée s’insurge contre la France
9-Aug-2012 La Tribune
Le gouvernement sud-coréen réfute les allégations de la France, selon lesquelles le marché tricolore serait envahi de voitures produites en Corée.
Mercosur senses dangers of free trade with China
9-Aug-2012 IPS
There is little likelihood that South America’s Mercosur trade bloc will take up China’s proposal to establish a free trade agreement, at least in the short term. Experts and industrialists fear an invasion of cheap Chinese goods, and unequal competition.
Asia Pacific talks not aimed at containing China - US official
9-Aug-2012 Reuters
Some in China see the Trans Pacific Partnership as a US attempt to rewrite the rules of trade for the region to economically contain China, whose rapid growth continues to rattle many lawmakers and companies in the United States. Deputy USTR Demetrios Marantis rejects the charge.
¿Desintegración latinoamericana?
8-Aug-2012
Los visionarios sueños de integración regional se convirtieron en instituciones de naturaleza política, diseñadas para contrarrestar, ciega e ideológicamente, la influencia norteamericana
EU-Thailand: Public hearing ’required’ before FTA talks
8-Aug-2012 Bangkok Post
A free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union requires not only parliamentary approval but also a public hearing before the Commerce Ministry can negotiate the terms, FTA Watch, a civil society network, declared on Wednesday.
EU-Israel: One hand whitewashes the other
8-Aug-2012 Al Jazeera
The European Union is being duplicitous by condemning Israel’s human rights abuses while increasing trade links.
’Services sector, sticking point in India-EU free trade talks’
8-Aug-2012 PTI
India and the European Union are facing “difficulties” relating to the services sector in signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two sides, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders said here today.
India, Chile set to expand PTA to increase trade
8-Aug-2012 SME Times
Ministers from India and Chile Tuesday decided to expand the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to increase trade between the two nations, informed ministry of commerce and industry.
Price gouging undermines South Korean trade pacts, minister says
8-Aug-2012 Bloomberg
South Korean consumers aren’t getting the full benefit of deals lowering trade barriers because distributors and wholesalers aren’t passing along the savings in import costs, the nation’s trade minister said.
Free trade agreements roil global auto manufacturers
8-Aug-2012 PDI
When I was in South Korea for five days last month, I noticed that very few European and American cars were on the road in Seoul and Keosu.
Korea, Vietnam to start FTA talks
7-Aug-2012 Chosun Ilbo
Korea and Vietnam have agreed to start formal talks toward a free trade agreement. Seoul and Hanoi already have a preliminary FTA, because Korea signed a trade pact with ASEAN. But Korea’s key exports — cars, components and IT products — are not included in the pact with ASEAN, so Seoul is now seeking separate FTAs with each ASEAN member country.
Thailand mulls FTA negotiations with EU
7-Aug-2012 The Nation
Thailand will ask the European Union to put the more than 700 export items that are at risk of losing export privileges in two years into an “early harvest” scheme under a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
SADC moving forward on model bilateral investment treaty template
7-Aug-2012 UNCTAD
Investment policy makers and investment treaty negotiators from the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened in Pretoria, South Africa recently to engage in clause by clause in-depth discussions of the draft SADC Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Template and Commentary.
Pacific could be pushed into unwanted deals
7-Aug-2012 Fiji Times
As the start of trade talks on a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union nears, African Caribbean Pacific countries have been urged by Fiji’s trade minister not to allow themselves to be forced into a deal that undermines each country’s independence.
Malaysia says no to TPP
7-Aug-2012 The Sun Daily
Malaysian Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which is being negotiated among eleven countries including the US and Malaysia, would be detrimental to the local medical industry.
EU mulls French request for surveillance of S.Korea car imports
6-Aug-2012 Reuters
The European Union is examining a request by France to require South Korea to give advanced warning of planned car exports to the EU, the first step towards the possible re-introduction of duties a year after a free-trade deal came into effect.
How the militarized war on drugs in Latin America benefits transnational corporations and undermines democracy
6-Aug-2012 Truthout
Is it an exaggeration to speculate that drug trafficking and exploitative globalized corporate practices formalized under free-trade agreements (grounded in a race to the bottom on labor costs and environmental degradation) are two sides of the same profiteering coin?