Why American Free Trade Area Runs Aground Again?

On November 4 and 5, the Fourth American Summit was held in Mar del Plata, a seaside resort in Argentina. The Summit opened amid the "final statement" of the Third "American People's Summit", calling for an immediate halt to the negotiation on the establishment of an American free trade area (FTAA), outside the conference hall, the meeting was carried out amidst the voice uttered by tens of thousands of people for "rejecting the American free trade area"; and inside the meeting-place the United States stood in sharp contrast to Latin American countries and each held to their own views on the topic concerning the establishment of an American free trade area, so the meeting ended with no result.

The idea about establishing an American free trade zone originated from the "America proposal" put forward by elder US President George Bush, which so far, however, made little progress. After young George W. Bush took office, he was determined to act on the will of his father, trying hard to set up a US-dominated unified American market. Motivated by George W. Bush, the Third American Summit held in April 2001 decided to formally start up the American free trade area at the end of 2005. Especially after obtaining the "right to a quick handling" of trade negotiation in 2002, young Bush accelerated promotion of the process of negotiation. But the failure to make any progress in the present Summit indicates that the FTAA which young Bush energetically stands for its establishment again "goes aground" in the process.

The serious divergence between the United States and Latin American countries at the present Summit shows the widening "interest gulf" between the two sides. With regard to the establishment of an American free trade zone, there have always existed two kinds of viewpoints between the US-headed "northern faction" and the Brazil-represented "southern faction", there are mainly three major differences:

First is different objective. US promotion of the establishment of an American free trade zone is designed to expand trade and market, attempting to hold the leading right over the American economy through the FTAA; Latin American countries hope to quicken the integration of the L. American region, enhance their own strengths and increase their bargaining chips in negotiation with the United States.

Second is different speed and procedure. The United States stands for accelerating the process of negotiation, trying hard to admit whichever country when condition there is mature and striving for an early establishment of an FTAA; L. American countries favor a step-by-step advancement, first realizing a L. American integration, and then joining the American free trade zone in a group form.

Third is different content. L. American countries demand the United States to cancel agricultural subsidies and oppose the practice of trade protectionism on the pretexts of protection of the environment and the employment market. Whereas the United States insists on submitting the question of agricultural subsidies to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for discussion, and asks L. American countries to intensify protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). Due to serious divergences between the two sides, American free trade area has so far hardly seen any smooth progress and has been at a standstill in the past two years.

The many differences and few results of the present Summit show possible variations in the prospect of an American free trade zone. Currently, as there have appeared two kinds of "substitute plans" for the American free trade area: One is the "South American Integration" with the South Common Market and the Andes Community as the core. In recent years, the South American Integration advanced jointly by the South Common Market and the Andes Group have even imitated the European Union (EU) by setting up the world's second largest economic and political community -- the South American Countries Community. Second is the "Bolivar American Integration" put forward by Venezuela and Cuba, proposing for a "new Latin American integration mode" established on the basis of unity, mutual benefit, respect and in accordance with the principle of complete integration of a "Bolivar form". These two plans have aroused different reactions in Latin. America, their development trends undoubtedly exert influence on the process of American free trade area.

But it should be noticed that advancing the establishment of an American free trade zone is the United States' established diplomatic goal for the Western Hemisphere, the Bush administration will spare no efforts to continue pushing it forward. At the same time, the United States has brought Mexico into the N. American free trade sphere and has signed free trade agreements with Chile and five Central American countries, and it is conducting related negotiations with some other countries, thus laying a definite foundation for the establishment of an American free trade area. What's more, at the present Summit, 28 countries agreed to restart negotiations on the American free trade area in April next year, the United States is likely to finally draw Latin American countries into the FTAA running track by the method of "divide and rule" and crushing them one by one.