Synopsis of Yu Wun's Commerce Presentation on the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement.

Synopsis of Yu Wun’s Commerce Presentation on the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement

What is a Free Trade Agreement?

A free trade agreement (FTA) is an agreement between two countries or amongst groups of countries aimed at a policy of non-intervention in trade between their nations.
Tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade are usually removed or lowered, while each country maintains its own commercial policy towards countries who are not part of the FTA.
Examples are the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NFTA) amongst the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The US-Australia Free Trade Agreement’s History

On 18 May, 2004, Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile and United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick signed the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement in Washington.
Negotiations on the AUSFTA were finalised in February after 11 months of talks between the two countries.
The signing of the agreement by Mr Vaile and Mr Zoellick will allow the US Congress to consider the agreement by July.
On the 14 July, the American Congress passed the FTA. It is now up to the Australian Parliament to decide on the FTA.

Issues surrounding the FTA

There are many issues surrounding the Australian and US Free Trade Agreement.
Groups such as the Greens and the Democrats (who are traditionally anti-globalisation) are opposed to the agreement on the grounds that it was bought by the lives and blood of soldiers in the Iraq War and many other issues.
However, some groups, such as AUSTA support the agreement, arguing it is vitally important to Australia's prosperity and global success in the twenty-first century.
Many political parties feel that Australia is better off making a multilateral agreement via the WTO.

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