Conversely, an FTAA that does not include special treatment for smaller economies would be both economically unworkable and politically untenable for them. Finally, recent tensions also has centred recently on the timetable for the negotiations. The Bush administration has made a firm declaration of its desire to move up the deadline for the conclusion of the negotiations from 2005 to 2003, while the Brazilians resisted such a move, arguing on occasion that even 2005 might be an unrealistic goal. USTR Zoellick and his negotiating team in Buenos Aires have visibly softened the position which they articulated before the meetings, and have indicated simply that every effort should be made to conclude the negotiations at the earliest possible date. What all this suggests is that a good deal of uncertainty surrounds the negotiations, as well as what an eventual FTAA might look like.
Several issues stand out as crucial possible impediment for the next stages of the process.
First, the task of constructing an FTAA involves the integration of widely disparate economies and levels of development, and in order for an FTAA to be meaningful for the realities of a majority of countries, it must involve significant consideration of the development dimensions of integration. Most immediately, this finding feeds into the issue of special treatment and technical assistance, as well as the enormously tricky areas of environmental and labour standards. While the elimination of poverty is a stated goal of the FTAA, market liberalisation without adequate compensation and assistance is ill-suited to the achievement of a range of pressing development objectives. Second, there remain significant divergences between participating countries on the relationship of the FTAA with the multilateral trading system, particularly with respect to the negotiation of issues such as anti-dumping and agriculture and to the compatibility of an FTAA with WTO processes. A third outstanding issue concerns the participation of civil society and non-governmental interests in the FTAA process, along with issues of transparency and information dissemination.