Thousands of fair trade activists delivered "wake-up calls" to the U.S. Congress last month to
demand that our Representatives get involved in breaking the silence around secret negotiations
to create FTAA – "NAFTA for the Americas."

What is "FTAA"?
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the formal name given to an  expansion of
NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) that would  include nearly all of the
countries in the western hemisphere.

This massive NAFTA  expansion is currently being negotiated in secret by trade ministers from a
total of 34 nations in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The goal of the
FTAA is to impose the failed NAFTA model of increased privatization and deregulation
hemisphere-wide.

Imposition of these rules would empower corporations to sue any level of government -- at
taxpayer expense –  anytime they feel that laws designed to protect public health and safety,
safeguard their workers and protect the environment limit corporate profit margins. Effectively,
these rules would handcuff governments' public interest policymaking and enhance corporate
control at the expense of citizens throughout the Americas.

FTAA would deepen the negative effects of NAFTA we've seen in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. over the past seven years and expand NAFTA's damage to the other 31 countries  involved. The FTAA would intensify NAFTA's "race to the bottom": under FTAA, exploited workers in Mexico could be leveraged against even more desperate workers in Haiti, Guatemala or Brazil by companies seeking tariff-free access back into U.S. markets.  (Further background
information on FTAA can be found at http://www.tradewatch.org/FTAA/factsheet.htm)

Last month, a bipartisan group of 63 Representatives sent a letter to the White House, demanding that the U.S. Trade Representative start consulting Congress about the negotiations, as required by the Constitution, and that the negotiations process be opened so that all documents on FTAA are available to the public.

Yes, Congress is growing more aware of our concerns.  But the big challenges are still ahead of
us!  Trade negotiators are going ahead with planned meetings this April on FTAA -- without
input from citizens or our elected representatives.  We must keep the pressure on Members of
Congress to join the struggle against NAFTA for the Americas!

Here’s your chance: congress is coming home. The first recess period of the 107thCongress is coming up, February 16-26, and this is your chance to speak up again while they're on your home turf.

Action
Be part of the national All-Call Day on FTAA on Thursday, Feb. 22
Call your Representative and Senators at their district offices.
Ask them to commit to oppose the "NAFTA for the Americas."
These local numbers can be found in your phone book blue pages, or from their
official websites (check www.house.gov and www.senate.gov).