Congress approves Singapore and Chile Free Trade Agreements.In his June 30th article, "Trading Away Jobs and Liberty," this magazine's William F. Jasper warned that the Singapore and Chile Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are only the first in a series of FTAs being negotiated by the Bush administration. Next in the pipeline are bilateral FTAs with Morocco and Australia, as well as two regional FTAs, the Central American Central America A region of southern North America extending from the southern border of Mexico to the northern border of Colombia. It separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean and is linked to South America by the Isthmus of Panama. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA cafta see catha edulis. ) and the South Africa Customs Union customs union Trade agreement by which a group of countries charges a common set of tariffs to the rest of the world while allowing free trade among themselves. It is a partial form of economic integration, intermediate between free-trade zones, which allow mutual free trade Free Trade Agreement. Then there is the biggest of the regional FTAs, the Free Trade Area of the Americas The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA), French: Zone de libre-échange des Amériques (ZLÉA), Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (FTAA FTAA Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA Free Trade Agreement of the Americas FTAA Florida Turkish American Association FTAA Federated Tanners Association of Australia FTAA Fixed Threshold Adaptation Algorithm ), involving the entire Western Hemisphere and scheduled for completion by 2005. Congress speedily approved the Singapore and Chile FTAs by large margins in July. Though Congress is allowed 90 days to consider trade agreements under the fast-track rules of Bush's Trade Promotion Authority, these two FTAs were polished off in a mere 21 days. The House approved the Singapore and Chile FTAs on July 24th by 272 to 155 and 270 to 156, respectively. The Senate approved the two FTAs on July 31st by 66 to 32 and 66 to 31. In "Trading Away Jobs and Liberty," Mr. Jasper warned: "If we allow these agreements to be adopted and implemented, the United States will be headed on the fast track to self-demolition and oblivion, from world superpower to Third World has-been, a mere cog in the new one-world imperium IMPERIUM. The right to command, which includes the right to employ the force of the state to enforce the laws; this is one of the principal attributes of the power of the executive. 1 Toull. n. 58. ." The speedy adoption of the first two stepping stones on the path to the sovereignty-destroying FTAA indicates just how little resistance the power elite is encountering. |
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