The slide presentation is about the US integration policies in Latin America

1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
OF THE CARIBBEAN
USA integration initiatives
Dr. Jacqueline LAGUARDIA MARTINEZ

2. Tratado de Libre Comercio de América
del Norte (TLCAN)
Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas
(ALCA)
USA integration initiatives

3. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994
Members: Canada, Mexico and the United States
Major controversy: Agriculture
U.S. government subsidies to the corn sector
jeopardizes Mexican farms and the country's food self-
sufficiency.
NAFTA is the force responsible for depressing the
incomes of poor corn farmers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t85sGekgH7o
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

4. Zapatista Army of National Liberation
• The preparations for NAFTA included the cancellation of
Article 27 of Mexico's constitution, that establishes that
Indian communal landholdings were protected from sale or
privatization (this barrier to investment was incompatible
with NAFTA)
• With the removal of Article 27, Indian farmers feared the
loss of their remaining lands and also feared cheap imports
(substitutes) from the US.
• The EZLN declared war on the Mexican state on January
1, 1994, the day NAFTA came into force
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HAw8vqczJw

5. • Initiative from the USA that tried to expand the NAFTA Agreement
to the rest of the region
• Launched at the Summit of the Americas in Miami on December
11, 1994
• Opposing the proposal were
Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominica and Nicaragua
(ALBA), and Mercosur Member States
• Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha
Development Round of WTO talks: developed nations seek
expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property
rights, while less developed nations seek an end to agricultural
subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods
• End of the project in the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar del
Plata (Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela) frontally rejected the USA
proposal that was supported by Canada, Mexico, Panama and
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

6. Solution: Free Trade Agreement
Benefits expected:
• From the US: economics and geopolitics
(trade, investments and intellectual rights)
• From the Latin America and the Caribbean:
access to the US market, access to
technologies, attract FDI

7. FTA
• 2004: United States - Chile Free Trade Agreement
• 2006: DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central
America Free Trade Agreement), excludes Panama
• 2009: United States – Peru Trade Promotion
Agreement
• 2011: United States - Panama Free Trade
Agreement
• 2012: Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement

8. Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP)
• Trade agreement that is presently being negotiated
between the European Union and the United States
• Talks started in July 2013
• On top of cutting tariffs across all sectors, the EU and the
US want to tackle barriers behind the customs border –
such as differences in technical regulations, standards and
approval procedures
• The TTIP negotiations will also look at opening both
markets for services, investment and public procurement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMuFXexHU6w

10. Puebla Panama Plan (PPP) in 2001
Mesoamerica Project
• 2008
• Members (10): Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Dominican
Republic
• Goal: To promote the regional integration and development of the nine
southern states of Mexico (Puebla, Guerrero, Veracruz) with all of Central
America, Colombia and the Dominican Republic
• Heavy investment on infrastructure (transport, energy, security and
biodiversity)
• Adherence to a neoliberal model of development: privatization of land
(including farmland), water and public services
• Critics: Constructions are destroying fragile rain forests and displacing
indigenous peoples who have little voice in the Project
• The “Castañeda Doctrine”: The Mesoamerican Integration and
Development Project / PPP should be used as a counterpart to Hugo
Chávez's leadership of left-wing policies in Latin America

11. Differences between ALBA-TCP and Neoliberal integration schemes
1. Key principles are “complementarity, as an alternative to competition; solidarity
as opposed to domination; cooperation as a replacement for exploitation; and
respect for sovereignty rather than corporate rule”.
2. Financial cooperation is an integral and major element
3. Social cooperation is an integral and major element
4. “A la carte” participation and “negotiated flexibility” rather than Single
Undertaking. Each member accedes on individually negotiated terms and its
participation in trade and ALBA projects is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
5. Trade can be a means of settlement of financial and/or social cooperation
6. Asymmetrical and non-reciprocal market access in favour of smaller and/or
weaker member economies
7. Tariff protection of infant industries allowed
8. Provision for counter-trade arrangements; i.e. direct product exchanges.
9. Creation of the „sucre‟, an accounting currency unit used to value bilateral and
multilateral trade among the members and to settle balances. In effect, this
permits multilateral counter-trade. Participation is not mandatory for members.
10. Recognition of the role of the state in development and in economic regulation

12. 11. Public procurement as an instrument of national economic development
12. Protection of citizens‟ rights to basic social services (i.e. from privatisation and
commercialisation)
13. Protection of labour rights
14. Protection of the rights of indigenous people
15. Protection of “Mother Earth” (the environment)
16. Rights to development and health take precedence over intellectual and industrial
property rights
17. Privileging of production for the national market and satisfaction of the needs of the
population
18. Privileging of communal and cooperative enterprises and of small and medium
enterprises
19. Submission of foreign investors to national law in Dispute Resolution
20. Rapid responsiveness and creativity in developing new programmes; e.g. ALBA Food
Security Initiative and ALBA Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund
21. Formation of Grandnational Enterprises— multi-country state-to-state joint ventures for
dedicated purposes in several areas
22. Political solidarity on threats to member states (such as the U.S. embargo on Cuba, the
Honduras coup of 2009, the Colombia-U.S. bases agreement of 2009, and the attempted coup
in Ecuador in 2010). Member countries are free to abstain or reserve their position.
Source: Norman Girvan, Is ALBA a New Model of Integration? Reflections on the CARICOM
Experience