USTR MAKES FTAA DRAFT AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW

USTR MAKES FTAA DRAFT AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said a “preliminary draft” of the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement is available for the public’s review.
   The text may be accessed on-line at https://www.ftaa-alca.org . It is written in four languages: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
   The Western Hemisphere Trade Ministers decided at its April 7 ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires to make the preliminary draft of the FTAA public. The decision was further endorsed by the hemisphere’s leaders at the Quebec Summit of the Americas on April 20-22.
   The draft covers nine “negotiating groups”: market access; agricultural procurement; services; intellectual property rights; investment; government procurement; competition policy; dispute settlement; and subsidies, antidumping and countervailing duties.
   The USTR’s Trade Policy Staff Committee in Washington will take comments from the public regarding the FTAA draft through noon Aug. 22. The U.S. government’s positions on the areas of the FTAA draft may be viewed online at https://www.ustr.gov/regions/whemisphere/ftaa.shtml .