FTAA Continues to Dominate the Summit Process

 
Much effort has been made to make the Summit of the Americas process more than a trade-driven, single issue concept. Hundreds of initiatives have been proposed since the December 1994 initial meeting of heads of state in Miami. But with the third Summit approaching in April 2001, the Buenos Aires Trade Ministerial showed that the trade question has trumped the Summit process once again.

The ministers, along with OAS Summit Coordinator Peter Boehm, have tried to put a positive spin on the decisions in Buenos Aires. However, the desire to keep environmental and labor questions as far as possible from the actual FTAA negotiations has forced a significant change in the organization of the Quebec Summit deliberations. For more than a year, the Canadians have organized the discussions leading to the definition of a Summit work plan in terms of "baskets"-groups of issues that are mutually reinforcing. These are roughly divided into political, economic and social areas. One of the surprises at the Buenos Aires meeting was the insistence of the United States that labor and environmental questions be considered as part of the economic basket. As reported by the Folha de S�o Paulo, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick explained that many people believe that trade should be tied to labor and environmental questions, as well as the general theme of economic growth. Despite the US government's claim that this linkage is necessary to achieve new fast track legislation, the Latin American countries showed their concern by eliminating the "baskets" at Quebec to avoid the appearance of a direct relationship between trade and the feared protectionist issues of the environment and worker rights.

In light of this development, many of the trumpeted victories for more transparency and participation agreed to by the ministers at Buenos Aires seem a bit hollow. The announcement of the "historic" decision to make the bracketed text available soon after the Quebec Summit, along with another attempt to appear to give civil society a chance to present its views, will be greeted by many as too little too late. It may also drive a greater wedge between those groups that oppose the FTAA and those that believe they can change it. The rejectionist rhetoric of the demonstrations at the Ministerial and even within the Business Forum point to some real problems for US efforts to move forward.

Other concerns involve what may be a new trade strategy by the USTR. The US and its ally, Chile (as well as Colombia and Canada), failed to get their "early harvest," nor did they succeed in accelerating implementation of the FTAA. The US backed down, and once more Chile was left hanging out to dry. The US seems to be making a conscious effort to consider Brazilian cooperation as essential to moving ahead with its overall US trade agenda, perhaps as a counterweight to Mexico's aspirations to represent Latin American interests to the Bush administration. It will be interesting to see how these decisions play out in Quebec, where the unresolved questions of markets for Latin American agricultural products as well as the use of anti-dumping legislation are issues that are potentially much more explosive than civil society, labor and environmental concerns.

After Quebec, the question of bilateral trade agreements, including the chance of an agreement between the US and Brazil, will have more weight while the US debates fast track. The recently reinvigorated trade discussions between Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico (known as the G-3) are another ingredient to add to the mix. Originally formed in 1995, this trade bloc had remained dormant until now, and it gives Mexico the opportunity to keep its hand in Andean affairs. Venezuela holds the presidency of the Andean Community, and on April 3 Ch�vez and Cardoso held a "summit" in Bras�lia. They agreed that MERCOSUR and the Andean Community would coordinate their positions during the Quebec Summit. Ch�vez believes that regional integration should be slowed down in favor of strengthening subregional trade blocs. This position appeared to regain some momentum in Buenos Aires. We will have to see if it survives Quebec.