Free Trade Area Of The Americas

Demonstrators who gathered outside a Miami jail to protest the arrests of their colleagues during this week's trade talks were themselves arrested after defying police orders to disperse. Anti-globalization activists and other protesters flocked to Miami to show opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas. More than 140 people had been arrested by Thursday night. About 100 protesters gathered near the jail Friday.

President Bush's goal for a free-trade zone encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere faces growing opposition in the U.S. and abroad. The Free Trade Area of the Americas would lower tariffs and open up borders separating 34 nations and 800 million people, creating the world's largest free-trade zone. U.S.

Police conduct was a "disgrace for the community" during demonstrations in Miami at the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting, according to a judge presiding over several protesters' cases. In a court transcript, Circuit Judge Richard Margolius also said he saw at least 20 felonies committed by police. "Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career," Margolius said. "This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community."

Police conduct was a "disgrace for the community" during demonstrations in Miami at the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting, according to a judge presiding over several protesters' cases. In a court transcript, Circuit Judge Richard Margolius also said he saw at least 20 felonies committed by police. "Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career," Margolius said. "This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community."

A draft negotiating text for an agreement to create a hemisphere-wide free trade zone prompted praise from the Bush administration and criticism from opponents. The 434-page draft of the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement was posted on the Web site of the FTAA secretariat. President Bush and the leaders of 33 other countries involved in the negotiations had pledged in April at a summit in Quebec to make the draft document available. U.S.

North, South Americans Renew Commitment to Free Trade: In a final communique issued after two days of talks in Cartagena, Colombia, trade ministers from 34 Western Hemisphere countries agreed "to make concrete progress" toward the building of the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas by the end of the century. But the group failed to announce the start of formal negotiations over the nuts and bolts of the agreement any time soon.

Leaders from 21 Caribbean Basin nations--including Mexico, Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela--agreed Saturday to pursue a regional tariff system to prepare for the future Free Trade Area of the Americas. Cuban President Fidel Castro paid his second-ever visit to Santo Domingo for the Assn. of Caribbean States summit, where leaders pledged closer cooperation in promoting tourism, responding to natural disasters and fortifying tenuous air and sea transportation links.

Say it loud or say it soft, it's never going to roll off anyone's tongue: FTAA, pronounced "ftaah." That's the acronym for the name U.S. and other negotiators came up with for the trading zone they plan to build among the nations of the Western Hemisphere: the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Earlier, officials had expected the new pact to be dubbed the Americas Free Trade Area, which produces a more mellifluous AFTA.

Jeff Engels, a 42-year-old Seattle sailor, fears competition from vessels carrying low-paid foreign crew. Lucille Moyer blames global competitive pressures for her unwanted membership in Silicon Valley's "throwaway work force." Jackie Woll, a Los Angeles mother of three, worries about genetically altered organisms in her children's canned corn.

They are the economic giants of the Western Hemisphere, but remain poles apart on how to create a free trade zone that could recharge the New World's economy. A week of speeches and meetings among the hemisphere's 34 countries ended here last week with little to show beyond the agreement by the United States and Brazil to postpone dealing with differences on how to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

They are the economic giants of the Western Hemisphere, but remain poles apart on how to create a free trade zone that could recharge the New World's economy. A week of speeches and meetings among the hemisphere's 34 countries ended here last week with little to show beyond the agreement by the United States and Brazil to postpone dealing with differences on how to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Demonstrators who gathered outside a Miami jail to protest the arrests of their colleagues during this week's trade talks were themselves arrested after defying police orders to disperse. Anti-globalization activists and other protesters flocked to Miami to show opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas. More than 140 people had been arrested by Thursday night. About 100 protesters gathered near the jail Friday.

Trade ministers from 34 Western Hemisphere countries, acknowledging their profound differences over how to create the world's biggest free-trade zone, ended their semiannual summit Thursday a day ahead of schedule and with no agreement on key issues.

Billed as an effort to form the world's biggest common market and secure prosperity for the Western Hemisphere, the Free Trade Area of the Americas pact is looking more like The Incredible Shrinking Treaty. Fearful of acrimony and failure at a summit here this week, negotiators from 34 member countries have stripped out controversial elements, from farm subsidies to commitments to honor intellectual property rights.

A draft negotiating text for an agreement to create a hemisphere-wide free trade zone prompted praise from the Bush administration and criticism from opponents. The 434-page draft of the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement was posted on the Web site of the FTAA secretariat. President Bush and the leaders of 33 other countries involved in the negotiations had pledged in April at a summit in Quebec to make the draft document available. U.S.

The leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere nations left their beleaguered enclave here Sunday, declaring in the face of three days of protests their commitment to free trade and "to making this the century of the Americas." "We do not fear globalization, nor are we blinded by its allure," they said in a document published at the conclusion of the third Summit of the Americas. They promised to create a hemisphere in which "no one is left behind."

Trade ministers from 34 Western Hemisphere countries, acknowledging their profound differences over how to create the world's biggest free-trade zone, ended their semiannual summit Thursday a day ahead of schedule and with no agreement on key issues.

Can he pull it off? Now that the rhetoric and tear gas have cleared from the weekend Summit of the Americas, the enormity of President Bush's pledge to make a hemispheric free trade zone happen in 2005 can be seen with sobering clarity. Negotiating a seamless 34-country Free Trade Area of the Americas pact--as he promised to do in a Sunday news conference attended by all the region's freely elected leaders--will take all the political suasion that Bush can muster.

Jeff Engels, a 42-year-old Seattle sailor, fears competition from vessels carrying low-paid foreign crew. Lucille Moyer blames global competitive pressures for her unwanted membership in Silicon Valley's "throwaway work force." Jackie Woll, a Los Angeles mother of three, worries about genetically altered organisms in her children's canned corn.

Can he pull it off? Now that the rhetoric and tear gas have cleared from the weekend Summit of the Americas, the enormity of President Bush's pledge to make a hemispheric free trade zone happen in 2005 can be seen with sobering clarity. Negotiating a seamless 34-country Free Trade Area of the Americas pact--as he promised to do in a Sunday news conference attended by all the region's freely elected leaders--will take all the political suasion that Bush can muster.