Representative Charles Rangel of New York, a member of the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, which oversees international trade agreements, says he hasn't read the document. Such power would permit Bush to negotiate a trade deal and then bring it back to Congress to vote yea or nay. In 1997 and 1998, Congress denied President Clinton fast track authority. The Institute for Policy Studies, however, says that more than 400,000 industrial jobs have been lost in the U.S. as companies shifted their work south of the border, and some 8 million Mexicans have slipped from the middle class into poverty, many of them farmers who've been unable to compete with giant U.S. agricultural corporations. Some nations at the Summit of Americas plan to resist portions of the FTAA, as developing nations opposed the WTO agreement in Seattle.
Brazil worries about the privatization of public services, such as health care.
By producing generic drugs, the Brazilian government cut the incidence of AIDS in half. But under FTAA, multinational pharmaceuticals could sue Brazil for impinging on their markets, with catastrophic consequences for people. Police blasted them with water from canons, sprayed tear gas, and shot rubber bullets. First the Europeans, and now the corporations. For information, see the group s Web site or e-mail the Kingston Community Union .