Today is Free trade area of the Americas Recession Depression Free markets are the wave of the future and foster economic growth Protesters voicing their opposition to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas recently made news as they disrupted business and cross-border traffic around Quebec City as trade representatives there tried to hammer out details of the agreement. With memories of the even more destructive civil disorder in Seattle over World Trade Organization meetings there two years ago, Canada found it necessary to undertake its most extensive police security effort ever. They were protesting the expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement to include the 34 democratic countries of Central America. It s been so successful, in fact, that our Latin American neighbors are clamoring for inclusion in the free trade area. Unable to join yet, they have been making do with their own local free trade areas, such as the Andean Community and Caricom, among others.
Free markets are the wave of the future.
They enable countries to take advantage of economies of scale and comparative advantage. All around the world, free-market areas are fueling economic growth. The FTAA, which the nations of this hemisphere hope to make a reality by 2005, is to be the world s largest market with more than 745 million people. Detractors say free trade harms the environment and is bad for labor, and they decry the so-called secrecy with which the negotiations are carried out. The environmental claim is patently false.