Bush and GMA cook up bilateral agreements
US imperialism continues to push �free market globalization� through various means to advance its economic hegemony in the world. It persists in employing bully tactics to push for global agreements within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO). At the same time, the US has been maneuvering to put into place and consolidate bilateral and regional agreements. Through these agreements, the US and its puppet regimes seek to implement by stealth the further liberalization of trade and investments.
Hastening the draft of such bilateral and regional agreements and tightening up on existing agreements at these levels have become more significant for US imperialism in the face of the collapse of the WTO negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. In seeking agreements with other regions and countries, the US seeks to soften the stance of those who objected to and thwarted the US� proposals in Cancun, and still achieve its agenda behind these proposals. This way, it could continue with its worldwide plunder.
This was on Bush�s agenda when he took his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia and attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand. Another item on his agenda was to campaign for US allies� continued and greater support for the �war against terrorism� and their legitimization of the increasingly untenable US occupation of Iraq.
In the Philippines, the bilateral agreement in the works is not far removed from the Laurel-Langley Agreement of 1954 and the Bell Trade Act of 1946. This bilateral agreement will provide | US imperialism continues to push �free market globalization� through various means to advance its economic hegemony in the world. |
foreigners, American monopoly corporations, in particular with parity rights, enabling them to enjoy 100% ownership of businesses and land and control over various aspects of the economy.
As early as last year, American corporate giants have already been insisting on the need for a comprehensive bilateral �free trade� agreement between the US and the Philippines. In April 2002, the Business Framework Agreement (BFA) was signed by the US-Philippines Business Committee and the US ASEAN Business Council on one side and the RP-US Business Council, on the other. It was the RP-US Business Council that actively pushed for such an agreement. In the absence of a comprehensive accord, it is the BFA that serves as a �free trade� agreement covering the following:
- Liberalization in trade and investment
- Liberalization of the airline industry (or the so-called �open skies policy�)
- Deregulation of the energy sector
- Deregulation of businesses devoted to e-commerce such as call centers
- Promoting genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the agricultural sector
- Strengthening tourism
The RP-US Business Council includes, among other, a number of US corporate giants like AOL Time Warner, Boeing Company, British Petroleum, Chevron Texaco, Federal Express, Kellogg Brown & Root, Monsanto Company, Motorola, Unisys and United Technologies Corporation.
It is corporations like them that will be the principal beneficiaries of an agreement on trade and investments between the US and the Philippines. These corporations are also pushing for charter change to remove provisions declaring the protection of the nation�s patrimony.
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