Costa Rica: CAFTA Read Fine Print

Don't Forget to Read the Trade Deal's Fine Print - Embassy - Newspaper Online.: "The Costa Rican Supreme Court has announced plans to review the United States- Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to assess the impact of that agreement upon civil liberties and human rights.

Meanwhile, Costa Ricans will get a chance to vote in a national referendum on whether to approve the agreement.

It's rare that trade agreements are subjected to such searching scrutiny–much less forced to steer between a gauntlet of the courts and the electorate.

A generation ago, former Canadian trade minister John Crosbie could idly boast that he had not bothered to read the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement–even as he encouraged Parliament to adopt it.

These days, that kind of talk could get you impeached in parts of Latin America, where politicians, the courts and even ordinary citizens are reaching for their reading glasses.

A big part of the reason for the heightened scrutiny of such deals is that 'free trade agreement' has become an outdated misnomer.

Sure, 'free trade' agreements remove barriers to the flow of goods between countries–but they do much more as well.

'Free trade' agreements may dictate which sectors of an economy will be opened to foreign takeovers. They may dictate domestic public policies for sensitive "

Labels: cafta, central america, costa rica, costarica, san jose, travel