After the Storm: The Politics of the Post-CAFTA US Trade Agenda. The Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 1, No. 1 October 2005

[From the Introduction] Over a year after US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Central American trade ministers signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the small, bilateral accord was able to squeeze through the US Congress with a close 217-215 vote in the House of Representatives on July 27, 2005. Congressional approval followed months of uncertainty. While the White House deservedly claims CAFTA as a victory, the nature of the CAFTA victory confirms the near-total collapse of a bipartisan trade consensus in Washington. Eleventh hour side deals and arm twisting made CAFTA’s passage in the House of Representatives possible. However, such a strategy does not bode well for future bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with Latin America. The current Andean Free Trade Agreement – which the US is negotiating with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (with Bolivia participating as an observer) – is next on deck but even when negotiations are completed, it stands little chance of reaching a vote in the US Congress before the 2006 congressional elections in which all members of the House of Representatives and some Senators stand for re-election. Partisan politics is the biggest obstacle currently standing in the way of a more productive US trade agenda with the Americas. Constituent and sectorial concerns clearly block free trade. The sugar lobby, for example, contributed to congress’s challenge in passing CAFTA. However, bitter partisanship will continue to be the greatest challenge to greater free trade with the Americas in the coming period

The European Union and regional integration. A comparative perspective and lessons for the Americas.

Regional integration processes are meant to provide a peaceful arena in which sovereign countries voluntarily combine their efforts in areas of mutual concern, creating common regional interests and objectives. Models and ideas, however, do not always result in concrete actions or significant accomplishments. Even the most developed institutional exercise of regional integration, the European Union (EU), is commonly overwhelmed by the contradictions and obstacles of the institutional architecture and the interests of the member states. The construction of the EU has continued for more than five decades and remains an unfinished project. Despite its ebbs and flows, the assessment of the European integration process is positive and still at the forefront of regional integration experiences. In that regard, what lessons can be learned in the Americas from the European experience? What are the peculiarities and prospects of the integration processes in the Western Hemisphere? What are the conditions necessary for developing integration processes? Some ideas and responses to these questions are provided in the articles of this book, grouped in four sections: hemispheric integration, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America. The contributors demonstrate that integration in the sub-regions of the Americas has progressed in varying degrees, and that each integration process is characterized by particular circumstances that constrain further institutional developments, legitimacy and credibility. Regional integration in both Europe and the Americas is a work in progress, and therefore, scholarly exercises of the kind included in this book serve not only as a reflection and analysis of what currently exists and how it has developed, but also as a consideration for future developments