Editing Free Trade Area of the Americas (section)

==History==
===Origins===
Discussions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas began at the [[1st Summit of the Americas|first Summit of the Americas]] in [[Miami]] on December 11, 1994. The FTAA came to public attention during the [[3rd Summit of the Americas|third summit]], held in [[Quebec City]] in 2001, as the meeting was targeted by large [[anti-corporatization]] and [[anti-globalization]] protests. The Miami negotiations in 2003 met similar protests, though not as large.

In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in [[Miami]], Florida, in the United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ftaa-alca.org/Ministerials/Miami/Miami_e.asp |title= ALCA – FTAA – ZLEA – Ministerial Declaration – Miami 2003 |publisher= Ftaa-alca.org |access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref> The proposed agreement was an extension of the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Discussions have faltered over similar points as the [[Doha Development Round]] of [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO) talks; developed nations sought expanded trade in [[Service Sector|services]] and increased [[intellectual property]] rights, while less developed nations sought an end to [[agricultural subsidy|agricultural subsidies]] and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil took a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States took a similar role for the developed nations.

===Disagreements===
In previous negotiations, the United States had pushed for a single comprehensive agreement to reduce trade barriers for goods, while increasing intellectual property protection. Specific intellectual property protections could include [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] style copyright protections similar to the [[U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement]]. Another protection would likely have restricted the importation or cross importation of pharmaceuticals, similar to the proposed agreement between the United States and Canada. Brazil posed a three-track approach that called for a series of bilateral agreements to reduce specific tariffs on goods, a hemispheric pact on [[rules of origin]], and a dispute resolution process Brazil proposed to omit the more controversial issues from the FTA, leaving them to the WTO.

The location of the FTA Secretariat was to have been determined in 2005. The contending cities were: [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]], [[Chicago]], [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston]], [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]], and [[Miami]] in the United States; [[Cancún]] and [[Puebla, Puebla|Puebla]] in Mexico; [[Panama City]], Panama; and [[Port of Spain]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. The U.S. city of [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] also submitted its candidacy in the early days but subsequently withdrew.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ftaa-alca.org/tnc/candidate_e.asp |title=ALCA – FTA – ZLEA – Candidate Cities for the Permanent Site of the FTAA Secretariat |publisher=Ftaa-alca.org |access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref> Miami, Panama City and Puebla served successively an interim secretariat headquarters during the negotiation process.

The last summit was held at [[Mar del Plata]], Argentina, in November 2005, but no agreement on FTA was reached. Of the 39 countries present at the negotiations, 20 pledged to meet again in 2006 to resume negotiations, but no meeting took place. The failure of the Mar del Plata summit to establish a comprehensive FTA agenda augured poorly.

===Current status===
The FTAA missed the targeted deadline of 2005, which followed the stalling of useful negotiations of the [[World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005]].<ref>[http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=161362709]{{dead link|date=August 2013}}</ref> Over the next few years, some governments, most notably the United States, not wanting to lose any chance of hemispheric trade expansion moved in the direction of establishing a series of bilateral trade deals. The leaders planned further discussions at the [[6th Summit of the Americas]] in Cartagena, Colombia in 2012, but these discussions did not take place.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-1032-0-9-9--.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-11-18 |archive-date=2022-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116131647/https://www.blacklistednews.com/news-1032-0-9-9--.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/sp/i/267/pid/267 |title=About AFSC &#124; Friends Service Committee |publisher=Afsc.org |access-date=2013-08-15 |archive-date=2010-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408125623/http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/sp/i/267/pid/267 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As of 2022, U.S. trade policy reflected a withdrawal from a reliance on trade agreements, with a preference for smaller bilateral deals.<ref>[https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-future-of-us-latin-america-trade-2210575/ The future of US-Latin America trade relations: What can we achieve in the next few years?] Accessed February 25, 2025</ref>