Signing Away the Future: How Trade and Investment Agreements between Rich and Poor Countries Undermine Development

This paper, provided by Oxfam, focuses on the main areas of the FTA with the U.S and EU and highlights the negative consequences these areas have on developing countries around the world. Section two looks at the effects of Intellectual Property Rights on developing countries. Section three explores the effects of FTAs on people access to services. Section four focuses on the investment implications of FTAs. Section five looks at the employment opportunities from FTAs and the gender implications. The paper also questions whether consumers are the real winners from trade, the agricultural barriers of industrialised countries and the threats to manufacturing.