Free Trade & The World Trade Organization

"Free" Trade & the World Trade Organization
the average European cow receives $2.50 in daily agricultural subsidies --that's more money than half the world's humans have to live on
WEBSITES ON GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL TRADEBank Information Center http://www.bicusa.org/Bretton Woods Project http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/Corporate Economic Globalization http://www.panix.com/~jimcook/globalization/Council of Canadians http://www.web.net/coc/Export Credit Agencies ECA-Watch http://www.eca-watch.org/Focus on the Global South http://www.focusweb.org/International Business Forum http://www.ibf.com/ Provides information about business opportunities in the international marketplace. It is intended for companies wishing to export or expand into foreign markets as well as for those interested to acquire products and services from other countries.International Business Research http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rulib/socsci/busi/intbus.html In their efforts to help you expand your worldwide business, Rutgers University Library also leads the activist to GATT and other trade treaties, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the agencies which subsidize international trade.International Forum on Globalization http://www.ifg.org/International Trade Web Resources websites and agencies related to trade http://www.fita.org/webindex.htmlMAI-Not! http://www.flora.org/mai-not/Mobilization for Global Justice http://www.a16.org/People Centered Development Forum http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/ founded by David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World.Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch http://www.tradewatch.org/publications/gtwpubs.htmThird World Resurgence on Trade and the WTO http://www.southbound.com.my/souths/twn/trade.htmThird World Network http://www.twnside.org.sg/Transnational Insitute (TNI) http://www.worldcom.nl/tniU.S. Trade Representative http://www.ustr.gov.html/World Trade Organization http://www.wto.org/WTO Watch on trade, and sustainable development from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy http://www.wtowatch.org/

News and views on the WTO protests in Seattle in November/December 1999World Trade Observer news and links http://www.worldtradeobserver.org/Independent Media news and links http://www.indymedia.org/Direct Action http://damn.tao.ca/wtopage/wto.htmGlobalize This http://www.globalizethis.org/Globalize This (footage of Seattle WTO events) http://www.globalizethis.org/live-cams.htmlSeattle WTO (citizens site) http://www.seattlewto.org/Democracy NOW! radio http://www.democracynow.org/Seattle Times WTO archive http://www.seattletimes.com/wto/Seattle Post-Intelligencer WTO archive http://www.seattle-pi.com/wto/World Trade Organization http://www.wto.org/index.htmWTO Ministerial in Seattle http://www.wto.org/wto/minist/seatmin.htmSeattle Business Welcomes the WTO http://www.wtoseattle.org/

QUESTIONS on CORPORATE INFLUENCE and RESEARCH
How do corporations and industry associations support the World Trade Organization?
The U.S. Trade Representative has a cozy relationship with its seventeen Industry Sector Advisory Committees (ISACs), which are made up of executives from corporations and industry associations. If you are concerned with a particular industry, you should get that ISAC list.
To see which U.S. corporations and industry lobbying groups are on these ISACs which formally advise the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), go to the USTR web site http://www.ita.doc.gov/icp/ and look at the 17 ISACs listed at http://www.ita.doc.gov/icp/isac.html and the Industry Functional Advisory Committees (IFACs) listed at http://www.ita.doc.gov/icp/ifac.html

Corporate associations and lobby groups pushing the WTO's free trade agenda include:
U.S. Alliance for Trade Expansion http://www.us-trade.org/ Members include Seattle locals like Boeing and Paccar, as well as others such as General Electric and IBM).
U.S. Trade. Its chairman is Procter & Gamble lobbyist Scott Miller.
The Seattle Host Committee http://www.wtoseattle.org/ is directed by Boeing executive Ray Waldmann. It is chaired by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Gates and Boeing CEO Phil Condit. It is financed by Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, and other corporations.

What are the key issues on the WTO Ministerial agenda that might impact a corporation?
Thw WTO is trying to reach agreements on cutting tariffs on forest and paper products, fisheries, chemicals, energy, minerals, environmental technology, medical equipment, and toys. The big fight is over what will be up for negotiation in the next round of free trade negotiations. Agricultural products, intellectual propoerty rights, and phytosanitary regulations for preventing the spread of exotic pests are contentious issues.
World Trade Organization web site http://www.wto.org/index.htm
WTO Ministerial in Seattle http://www.wto.org/wto/minist/seatmin.htm
Seattle Business Welcomes the WTO http://www.wtoseattle.org/
Public Citizen http://www.tradewatch.org/
Adbusters' Big Question http://adbusters.org/campaigns/economic/index.html


Although globalisation has successfully generated unprecedented wealth for the United States, the "impact on the rest of the world has been more ambiguous."
-- Henry Kissinger, Herald, Dec. 27, 1999
No kidding, Henry.