WTO-GATS and the FTAA: Double Trouble for Libraries and Public Information Services

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is intended to be the most far-reaching trade agreement in history. While it is based on the model of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), its scope goes well beyond NAFTA. This presentation, given by Samuel Trosow (CLA Chair of the Committee on International Trade Agreements) in late November at McGill University, focused on the potential effects of the proposed FTAA on public libraries and other information services as well as its interactions with the WTO agreements.