The prospect of thousands of people simultaneously urinating on a fence, which FTAA protesters in Quebec City are threatening to do, can be mesmerizing. But let's not allow theatrics, even creative theatrics, to cause us to lose sight of the FTAA basics. Here are a few reminders. There is no deal yet.
Negotiations are still at a very preliminary stage.
Jockeying for position may explain much of the current excitement, but a deal isn't due until January 2005, and many observers think it will take longer than that. It's a multilateral deal. Critics of the Canada-U.S. free trade deal have always argued that Canada's tradition is to sign multilateral trade deals, not bilateral ones. The FTAA is not as multilateral as the WTO, but it includes more members than the original GATT did in 1947. It's primarily a trade deal.