If completed, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement would encompass an area of 800 million people & about $13 trillion in production of goods & services, making it the most significant regional trade initiative presently being pursued by the U.S. The 34 democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere formally launched negotiations towards a FTAA in 1998, & set a Jan. 2005 deadline for concluding a FTAA agreement. This report analyzes: (1) progress made in FTAA negotiations since April 2003, (2) factors that have been influencing the FTAA's progress, & (3) future prospects for the FTAA. Charts & tables.

This book focuses on one of the most strategic developments in international trade-the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement-due for completion in 2005. This US initiative aims to replicate the NAFTA Agreement across all 34 countries of South and North America (except Cuba). This volume explains the origins and ongoing process of the negotiations and explains why the US wants to expand its NAFTA model. It makes clear that investment protection, in addition to trade, is at the heart of the new agreement. And it examines in-depth the possible consequences for Mercosur, Brazil, and the region's many small economies.