Free trade agreements

Alongside the WTO negotiations, the EU is still pressing ahead with a new generation of trade deals called Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

These deals are currently being negotiated between the EU and a large number of developing countries and could have a disastrous impact on the economies these nations.

Why are we worried?
FTAs are skewed in favour of rich countries and threaten to leave millions of poor people worse off.

Unless FTAs are radically reformed, the impact in developing countries will be:

• job losses, government revenue losses and cuts in public services as developing countries are forced to open up their markets to the EU before they are ready
• corporate domination as developing countries’ ability to regulate big business is restricted
  
• weakened democracy as governments are prevented from choosing their own development strategies.

FTAs currently being negotiated include Economic Partnership Agreements with 76 Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries and new deals with India, China and trade blocs in Asia and Latin America.

photo : ©Gideon Mendel / Corbis / ActionAid