Brazil proposes a “light” FTAA.

Lula says again that they are defending their interests just like the US defends theirs.

<clips>

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s main foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio García forecasted that the United States sponsored Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, could become effective according to the tentative timetable but “in a far less embracing way than Washington pretends”.

“We believe in a more modest FTAA, a “light” FTAA, for January 2005, leaving complex affairs for future negotiations”, said Mr. García when addressing the International Socialist Congress that is taking place in Sao Paulo.

The Lula da Silva administration fears the overwhelming hegemony of the US and is more inclined towards an FTAA drafted as an aggregate of general rules regarding free trade and mechanisms to solve disputes, leaving for a more appropriate opportunity direct negotiations with the United States regarding the liberalization of agriculture and industrial goods.

The US is pushing for a comprehensive FTAA involving the 34 countries of the three Americas and extensive to a whole range of issues such as agriculture and industrial goods, investments, government purchasing patents and services.

“We are defending our interests in the same way the US is defending their interests. They don’t want to talk in FTAA about farm subsidies, and we don’t want to address issues such as government purchasing, services and patents”, indicated Mr. García who added that “Brazil’s position is shared by Mercosur country members, particularly Argentina”.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2785

Although the jury is still out on Lula, my respect for him grows daily. Leading Brazil is an enormously difficult job (almost a no-win proposition), but he is showing genuine leadership on trade issues.

admirable Lula traits. Not to mention a realistic grasp of the world affairs, saudade...He has done well, so far..and a tough job indeed.

Corporate "free trade" is nothing more than trying to impose a right-wing corporatist political philosophy on the whole world. It is NOTR about truly free trade.

If countriesd like Brazil support the reasonable aspects of trade agreemnents but stand firm against the political take-over aspects, it would be much better than simply rolling over.

<clips>

Only if the United States makes major concessions on the politically charged issue of farm subsidies will the Western Hemisphere be able to craft a Free Trade Area of the Americas, several leading regional trade analysts agreed Tuesday.

The consensus by Brazilian Ambassador Rubens Barbosa, Inter-American Dialogue President Peter Hakim and Argentine International Trade Secretary Martín Redrado came early in The Herald's 2003 Americas Conference, which opened Tuesday morning at The Biltmore in Coral Gables.

The conference is to continue today, focusing on the question of the FTAA, a proposed trade pact among 34 countries in the hemisphere and the numerous economic and political challenges facing the region.

But the Tuesday morning panel discussion highlighted how difficult it will be for the United States and its hemispheric neighbors to strike a regional deal.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7126010.htm

Growing mistrust in Bush's backyard


by Ann-Marie Michel, 29 October 2003




President Bush - thumbs down in Latin America


- listen to the interview, 3´40



US President George Bush may be surprised to learn that he's not very popular among Latin Americans. Despite speaking Spanish, an opinion poll in Miami, published this week reveals that only 12 percent of Latin American people think Mr Bush is doing a good job in the region. Mistrust ranges from the war on Iraq to US policy on free trade.

Lisa Howgard is the executive director of the Latin American Working Group, a Washington-based coalition of human rights activists, church groups and policy advisors. She says in great measure President Bush owes his dismal reputation among Latin Americans to the general US role in the world.

"Latin America has experienced the heavy hand of US foreign policy in the past. To see the US act first with force and much later with peace and reconstruction is something that doesn't resonate well in Latin America."

RN: "That's the overall political situation. I understand there are also concerns about the 34-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas, that Latin Americans feel they're being hard done by in the area of trade."

"That's an opinion that's widely held in Latin America, although there are certainly many Latin American governments and businesses that are actively seeking the Free Trade Area of the Americas. However, for many people the concept of free trade with the US raises the spectre of US products flooding their markets and undercutting the prices that their own farmers and their own small industries are receiving." (snip/...)

http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rnw.nl%2Fhotspots%2Fhtml%2Fbush031029.html

Wow. I guess given what we're dumping into Colombia's military and would-be coups in Venezuela, I'm not surprised.

From the interview:

RN: "So, do you think then the problem is not so much with President Bush as with the US as a whole?"

"I think the problem is very much with the Bush Administration's global policies of force first and development and peace later. Also, some of these policies are played out, for example in the case of Colombia where the United States is investing 80 percent in military aid and 20 percent in social assistance. Latin Americans, and not just in Colombia, read about that."

"You can also look at the actual content of US foreign aid. Right now, for the fist time in many years, military aid to Latin America just about equals social and economic aid, which is surprising given the fact that there is relative peace in those countries."

This guy better not get on any small planes while Bush is President.