January 18, 2005


To Chair of the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society:


I am a student at The White Mountain School. I am currently in an Economics and Sustainability class. In this class we are currently learning about globalization and more specifically the Free Trade Area of the Americas. We are learning the pros and the cons of the FTAA by learning about past trade agreements and by research. There are some issues in which I would like to comment on about the proposed FTAA Draft agreement.

According to some sources, “the FTAA is essentially an expansion of NAFTA. But NAFTA has proven to be a nightmare…”¹ NAFTA has created poverty and inequality throughout the world. The inequality happens mostly between the global north and global south, with the north being the dominant force.

The first piece of information I would like to address is the overall enactment of the FTAA. The whole aspect of globalization has ruined many countries economies. One of the biggest reasons that globalization has failed is because of the outsourcing of jobs.

This outsourcing of jobs will now be even more readily used because of the elimination of tariffs in accordance with Chapter VII Tariffs and Non-Tariff Measures. This chapter basically removes the overall placement of tariffs. The removal of tariffs will allow more countries to import items allowing jobs to be outsourced. A good example of this is shown in the technologies companies. According to Paul Almeida, President of Department for Professional Employees said, “technology companies are laying off American workers for less paying desirable jobs while they add thousands of jobs overseas.”²This just proves that the with the removal of the tariffs the importing will increase because the outsourcing of jobs will be even cheaper now that companies will not have to pay tariffs.

I am asking to please re-think the impact that the FTAA will have on the global economy. Even if the whole document is not revised, I think you should consider the revision of Chapter VII. The removal of tariffs will increase the amount of outsourcing done by companies. Thank you.


Regards,
Mark DeJong