MEFTA
The US-Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) initiative was an ambitious plan to achieve a single free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and all countries between Western Sahara and Iran. It was launched by George W Bush in 2003. As with the old US-ASEAN FTA plan, the idea is to build the FTA bit by bit from the bottom up. Here, in theory, that means pushing all the countries up a scale of necessary conditions: from WTO membership to a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement leading to a bilateral investment treaty and/or an FTA.
The countries targetted to join MEFTA are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel (and through Israel, the Palestinian Authority), Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria , Tunisia and Yemen.
Bush’s MEFTA project was clearly driven by US geopolitical and "security" interests and not just economic goals. The MEFTA project directly comes up against the EU’s plans for FTAs with the Mediterranean (EMFTA) and the Gulf states.
However, while the US initially set the deadline for MEFTA at 2013, the Obama Administration seems not to have followed through with it in the way that the previous administration had envisaged.
last update: May 2012
Articles
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21-May-2010 Dow Jones US, Libya sign trade and investment pact to improve ties
The US and Libya signed a pact Thursday to facilitate trade and investment between the two nations, marking the latest step in the thaw of past hostilities. Corporate groups led by BP and Chevron called the deal "a milestone". -
21-Apr-2009 PR Newswire Espionage and property theft triggers call to suspend Israeli access to US market
A major legal filing urges the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to suspend preferential Israeli access to the US market. -
29-Jan-2009 lescommunistes.org Palestine et Moyen Orient : Combattre le néolibéralisme et le pouvoir des Etats Unis
L’idée centrale de la stratégie du "Nouveau Moyen Orient" des Etats-Unis est l’intensification des politiques économiques néolibérales - comme la privatisation, les accords de libre échange, la réduction des dépenses du secteur public, l’ouverture à l’investissement étranger, la suppression des subventions d’Etat, etc. - dans tous les Etats de la région. -
27-Feb-2008 Gulf Daily News New US push for Mideast free trade deal
US officials are engaged in "informal" talks with several GCC countries on possibly concluding a Middle East Free Trade Agreement (Mefta) by 2014, it was revealed yesterday. -
31-Jan-2008 Al Bawaba Interview: US to push free trade in Middle East
Carlos M. Gutierrez, the influential and persuasive US Secretary of Commerce plans to use a keynote business conference in Jordan to press home the ambition of the Bush administration to see the establishment of a regional US-Middle East Free Trade Area by the deadline of 2013. -
26-Mar-2007 Fakhro, Monroe to lead Kingdom at MEFTA meet
The US Ambassador William T Monroe and the Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr Hassan Abdulla Fakhro will lead the Bahraini team at the Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) Trade and Investment Conference in London on March 29. -
18-Dec-2006 Washington File US trade, investment deals in Middle East advance bolder goals
Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) the United States signs with countries in the Middle East and North Africa help realize the vision of a regional free trade area integrated with global economy, US officials say. -
6-Dec-2006 Peterson Institute A US-Middle East trade agreement: A circle of opportunity?
In 2003 President George W Bush proposed a US-Middle East free trade agreement (FTA) to bring “an expanding circle of opportunity” to the region. This new book from the Peterson Institute examines whether an FTA can achieve this goal and the trajectory for a likely agreement. -
19-Jul-2006 Arab Times Guiterrez holds talks with Kuwaiti officials
US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez met today with HH the Amir of Kuwait to discuss the Kuwaiti-American commercial dialogue and Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). -
13-Feb-2006 Washington Institute Free trade agreements: The quiet economic track of US Middle East policy
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration has placed democratization and reform in the Middle East at the top of its agenda. While press reports have focused on political developments, another key component to the American strategy entails encouraging economic growth, modernization, and liberalization throughout the region. -
12-Feb-2006 MENAFN No US-ME free trade talks this year but with Egypt
According to US Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Shaun Donnelly, the only Arab country under consideration for beginning FTA talks before the summer of 2007 is Egypt. -
17-Nov-2005 US ’Big Brother’ attitude in FTAs draws criticism
Arabs attending a conference in Bahrain blasted yesterday Washington’s "Big Brother" attitude in bilateral Free Trade Agreements, saying they are political tools to serve US interests rather than enhance economic prosperity in the region. -
24-May-2005 Yemen Observer U.S. encourages trade expansion with Arab World
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has engaged in intensive negotiations with a number of Arab countries to develop bilateral trade agreements which it intends to knit together into a Middle East Free Trade Area by 2013. -
29-Mar-2005 LA Times Mideast building trade ties with US
The Bush administration’s plan: to negotiate a series of trade agreements that would eventually fuse one of the world’s most economically and politically unstable regions into a giant free-trade zone. -
25-Feb-2005 US Embassy Italy Middle East Free Trade Area: progress report
Since the Bush Administration first announced its trade initiative, it has made substantial progress in working with MEFTA entities to develop TIFAs, BITs, and FTAs. -
8-Oct-2004 IPS US business pushing for Middle East FTA
Major US corporations are joining forces to lobby for a US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA) that President George W Bush proposed in 2003. -
11-Sep-2004 DISAM US economic and trade policy in the Middle East
Excerpts of the testimony by Alan P. Larson, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, presented to the Senate Finance Committee on March 10, 2004. -
11-May-2004 ZNet Operation enduring free trade: War, the Middle East and Bush’s bilateral free trade and investment crusade
While US forces bombed, murdered and maimed their way to "freedom" and "democracy" in Falluja and across Iraq, George Bush reiterated his vision for the Middle East to the US public on April 13th, 2004
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USTR on MEFTA
The US Trade Representative’s webpage dedicated to the US-Middle East FTA.
