"International trade agreements such as NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) were written by representatives of large corporations and they function in the interests of large corporations.

For example, detailed studies by Public Citizen and other watchdog groups have shown that in the seven years of NAFTA, transnational corporations from the three signing countries (Canada, USA, Mexico) have benefited while the middle classes and working classes of these countries have suffered. More jobs have been lost due to NAFTA than have been created.

Several decades of the GATT have lowered corporate taxes by the trillions of dollars, thus helping to bankrupt governments around the world and make them dependent on borrowing from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the private banks. This indebtedness then gives immense policy influence to the bankers, who are mainly interested in the money cycle not the life cycle."

- Global Exchange [source]

For more information on this and other related issues, visit Global Exchange on the Internet.

Corp Watch
- CorpWatch's mission from its website: "CorpWatch counters corporate-led globalization through education and activism. We work to foster democratic control over corporations by building grassroots globalization--a diverse movement for human rights, labor rights and environmental justice." [source]

Global Exchange
- organization devoted to promoting environmental, political and social justice

Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment

Quebec 2001 Peoples' Summit
- the site of the alternative summit to the April 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada

General

CorpWatch
- Globalization and Corporate Rule

CorpWatch
- Trade and Investment Agreements

Global Exchange
- Free Trade Agreements page

FTAA

Hemispheric Social Alliance
- a network of organizations from across the Americas that develop alternatives to the FTAA (site primarily in Spanish)

Global Trade Watch - FTAA page

Global Exchange - FTAA page

Global Exchange - Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the FTAA page

WTO/GATT

CorpWatch - Who Owns the WTO?

Global Trade Watch - WTO page

Global Exchange - WTO page

NAFTA

Global Trade Watch - NAFTA page

Global Trade Watch - 9 Steps You Can Take to Defeat Fast Track