Even before the free trade agreement, Singapore had 99% free trade. Only beer and certain alcoholic beverages were subject to import duties. However, Singapore imposes high excise duties on spirits and distilled wines, tobacco products and motor vehicles (all of which are imported). These aim to prevent consumption for environmental and health purposes. The government also bans chewing gum (it caused a blockage of the subway doors). These practices are addressed in the FTA. Negotiations on the free trade agreement between the United States and Singapore began under the Clinton administration in December 2000. The free trade agreement would be the fifth such agreement signed by the United States and the first with an Asian country. According to the U.S. Trade Representative, the FTA has innovated in the areas of e-commerce, competition policy and government procurement.
It also includes what the U.S. Trade Representative would consider major advances in intellectual property protection, in the areas of environment, labor, transparency, customs cooperation and transshipment. The Agreement establishes a Joint Committee to monitor the implementation of the Agreement and to examine trade relations between the Parties. The committee is composed of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry or their representatives. The Board shall meet once a year for an ordinary session and for special sessions within 30 days of a request from both countries. The tasks of the Committee include (inter alia) reviewing the operation, functioning and implementation of the Agreement in the light of its objectives; facilitate the prevention and settlement of disputes arising from the Agreement; the consideration and acceptance of any amendment to the Agreement, subject to the conclusion by each Party of the necessary national judicial proceedings; publish interpretations of the Agreement; and examine ways to further improve trade relations between the parties. The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA), officially the Free Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Singapore, is a preferential trade agreement between Singapore and the United States signed on May 6, 2003. It was held on the 24th. It was ratified by the United States House of Representatives in July 2003 by a vote of 272 to 155, and the United States Senate ratified the bill on 31 July 2003 by a vote of 66 to 32.
Then, on September 3, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, which officially came into effect on January 1, 2004. [1] [2] As Singapore is a relatively small economy, the economic impact of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement is unlikely to be significant in itself. The debate on the implementation of the free trade agreement lies between the interests of business and free trade, which would benefit from further trade liberalisation, particularly in the services sector, and trade union or anti-globalisation interests, which oppose more free trade agreements because of the overall impact of imports on jobs and the general impact of globalisation on income distribution, some jobs and the environment. Specific provisions of the agreement also gave rise to discussions. The report shall be updated when circumstances warrant. Some trade diversions are possible under the free trade agreement.
Manufacturers currently producing elsewhere in Asia could move to Singapore. Given that Singapore`s per capita income is $20,600, average hourly labour costs are $7.73 (compared to $5.55 in Taipei, Taiwan, $1.12 in Bangkok, Thailand, and $0.64 in Guangzhou, China), and office occupancy costs are 67% higher than guangzhou and 330% higher than Bangkok(49), it seems unlikely that a large number of factories will move to Singapore, to use the free trade agreement. However, attempts to illegally transship regional producers could increase. The FTA addresses this potential problem by increasing customs procedures. With more than 1,400 pages and 21 chapters, the agreement achieves all the negotiating objectives required by Congress in the Trade Act of 2002 (TPA). The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has helped boost U.S. exports, improve U.S. competitiveness around the world, and ensure a U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. It also provides a free trade standard that promotes a high degree of liberalization. Doing business in Singapore has become even easier, faster, cheaper and more transparent.
The free trade agreement has given U.S. businesses and exporters even more access to one of the world`s largest markets. The United States already has free trade agreements with Canada, Mexico, Israel and Jordan and is negotiating free trade agreements with Central America, Australia, Morocco, the Southern African Customs Union and Bahrain. The United States is also a member of APEC, an organization that pursues free trade and investment in the Pacific region, and is negotiating with 33 other countries in the Western Hemisphere to establish a free trade area for the Americas. Given the trend to negotiate more free trade agreements, the agreement with Singapore would essentially give Singapore the same status as other countries that already benefit (or could benefit) from free trade with the United States. Workers` rights. (Chapter 17) In the FTA, work commitments are part of the central text of the trade agreement. Both Parties reaffirm their obligations as members of the International Labour Organization and shall endeavour to ensure that their national laws provide for labour standards in accordance with internationally recognized labour principles. The agreement also contains language that it is inappropriate to weaken or reduce national health and security in order to promote trade or investment. The agreement also requires the parties to effectively enforce their own national labour laws. This obligation is intended to be enforceable in the context of the dispute settlement procedures of the Agreement (see section on dispute settlement). Environment.
(Chapter 18) The U.S. Trade Representative says the agreement fully meets the environmental goals set by Congress when it granted the President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). (36) Environmental commitments are part of the core text of the Trade Agreement. Both parties should ensure that their national environmental laws provide for a high level of environmental protection and strive to further improve those laws. The agreement specifies that it is inappropriate to weaken or reduce domestic environmental protection in order to promote trade or investment. The agreement also requires the parties to effectively apply their own national environmental laws. This obligation is intended to be enforceable in the context of the dispute settlement procedures of the Agreement (see section on dispute settlement). Of the government`s 31 trade advisory committees, only the Labor Advisory Committee did not approve the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.
The working committee rejected the proposed free trade agreement (as well as the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement), saying it would repeat “the same mistakes of the North American Free Trade Agreement” and “likely lead to the same deterioration in trade balances, job losses, trampled rights, and inadequate economic development created by NAFTA.” Another issue related to intellectual property rights concerns licenses to copy patented medicines. The free trade agreement severely prohibits Singapore from using compulsory licenses to copy patented medicines and creates new barriers to the import of patented medicines sold at lower prices in third countries. These provisions can strengthen the protection of U.S. pharmaceutical companies in a way that was expressly prohibited by the World Trade Organization by the Doha Declaration on Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health. (29) Some also argue that further restrictions on compulsory licensing of patented medicines could hamper Singapore`s ability to use cheaper generic alternatives. However, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry reportedly welcomed the patent provisions of the agreement. (30) In its examination of the Industrial Free Trade Agreement, the Committee of the Adviser on the Textiles and Clothing Industry indicated that the greatest interest and division among the members of the Committee was focused on rules of origin and whether they could become a precedent for other trade agreements. .
