Free Trade Area of the Americas: Negotiators Move Toward Agreement That Will Have Benefits, Costs to U.S. Economy.

摘要

Because of the significance of the Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative, you asked us to report on the current status of negotiations on specific topics and the agreements potential effect on the United States. In this report, we address (1) the progress made to date and the issues that remain on topics relating to negotiating greater market opening among FTAA countries, (2) the progress made and the issues that remain in developing other rules and institutional provisions for an eventual FTAA agreement, (3) the significant crosscutting themes affecting the FTAA negotiations and how have they been addressed to date, and (4) the potential effects of a completed FTAA on U.S. trade and investment with other Western Hemisphere countries. Our observations are based on our past and ongoing work on the Free Trade Area of the Americas process.