SACU-US talks stall
17 November 2004
SACU-US FTA negotiations are in deadlock over a disagreement about the scope of the proposed FTA.
The SACU does not want to negotiate on investment, intellectual property rights, labour standards and government procurement, while the USA is insisting on negotiations in all of these areas. The talks are now suspended to allow both sides to 'clarify issues internally'.
Editorial comment
Once the US elections are out of the way the US administration may feel freer to drop its current insistence on negotiations in all areas where it has a mandate to negotiate. For its part' if a narrower agenda for actual negotiations were possible, then the SACU may be willing to hold negotiations on certain areas currently ruled out.