Reflections on the Development and Prospects of the Free Trade Area of the Americas: Does It Relate to the European Experience? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 5 No. 17, July 2005

Moss, Ambler. (2005) Reflections on the Development and Prospects of the Free Trade Area of the Americas: Does It Relate to the European Experience? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 5 No. 17, July 2005. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

[From the introduction]. What is the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) really about? What kind of integration does it consist of? What motivates Western Hemisphere countries to move in such a direction? We need to reflect on the meaning and significance of the FTAA. At this writing, as we know, it is not entirely clear when there will be one. It is perhaps easier to say what the FTAA is not about. Most obviously, its wellspring is not analogous to the Schuman Declaration, the political origin of the European Union announced on May 9, 1950. That document said quite plainly that the pooling of coal and steel between the two main European powers would be done to prevent any future war between them: The solidarity in production thus established will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.

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