Via the International Economic Law and Policy Blog (thanks Abbe!) Simon Lester posts on former USTR Robert Zoellick’s proposal for a new ‘Association of American Free Trade Agreements’ in AAFTA We Hafta?. AAFTA is a proposal for a mega group to take in all the other FTAs and Trade Initiatives in the Americas and consolidate them into one secretariat, possibly in Miami, FL and possibly in conjunction with an academic centre for study.

I certainly don’t feel qualified, at this early stage of the game, to say whether or not AAFTA is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ thing. However, being a Texan working in the UK, I’ve become more sensitive to the need to point out some culturally relevant bits for others not from the States.

First, AAFTA would (almost certainly) not involve Cuba or Venezuela. US idealogical and political disputes with these two countries, generally over communism (or as Zoellick mentions, ‘the pied pipers of populism‘), would entail their exclusion. Along this same line of thinking, I also wonder about smaller countries/economies, such as Suriname, and how they would fit in to AAFTA.

Second, as you can see from the CNN transcript, the idea of ‘surrendering the sovereignty of the United States’ is a BIG political hotbutton in the US, and one that if AAFTA is couched in those terms would cause it (IMO) to be very difficult to pass. This isn’t even to mention the numerous conspiracy theories that get thrown out by a segment of the population whenever the term ‘new world order’ gets used. Of course arguments about surrendering sovereignty are common here in Europe, usually in reference to the EU, but the key difference I see is that it seems like most people here (Europe) are generally for more regional integration (or at least aren’t against the regional integration that they already have).

Third, I wonder if AAFTA would even be possible if Presidential Fast Track Authority is not renewed. This is the authority that allows the president to present a trade bill to Congress and get a yes/no vote (no amendments are allowed) within 90 days. Without this authority, it may be difficult to get AAFTA passed domestically.

As to other thoughts about AAFTA, there is no doubt in my mind that Intellectual Property and IT-business related issues (especially ISP liability and anti-circumvention issues) would be a large part of such an organisation. These issues are central to many of the agreeements that would be component parts of the AAFTA, as well as just being issues that are key to discussions about international trade.