Abstract
This chapter analyses implementation of the People’s Trade Agreement (TCP), a framework for cooperative, state-led, complementary trade and investment agreements between ALBA members. The aim was to mutually reinforce endogenous development, promote multipolarity, and legitimise left-of-centre ideas and governments by using the regional level to empower the poor and the marginalised. Though Venezuela’s withdrawal from the Andean Community allowed for negotiation of a TCP-compatible trade regime with Ecuador, attempts to concretise the TCP in both multi- and bilateral forms only consumed scarce human and material resources without producing any new agreement. Structural and historical legacies were not properly anticipated. Real, potential, and perceived clashes with other international institutions limited its reach. Bureaucratic sloppiness and resistance flourished in a context of weak accountability. Divisions over development strategies played out across national governance structures. And the ultimate failure of negotiations dealt a severe blow to ALBA’s credibility.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Personal interview, 23 June 2011.
- 2.
Personal interviews, 28 April 2015, 30 April 2015.
- 3.
Personal interview, 30 April 2015.
- 4.
Personal interview, 28 June 2011.
- 5.
Personal interview, 30 June 2011.
- 6.
Personal interviews, 23 June 2011 and 30 April 2015.
- 7.
Personal interview, 28 June 2011.
- 8.
Personal interview, 23 June 2011.
- 9.
Personal interview, 30 April 2015.
- 10.
Personal interview, 23 June 2011.
- 11.
Personal interview, 23 June 2011.
- 12.
Personal interview, 6 July 2011.
- 13.
Personal interview, 6 July 2011.
- 14.
Personal interview, 29 April 2015.
- 15.
Personal interviews, 29 June 2011, 6 July 2011, 7 July 2011.
References
ALBA. 2004. Acuerdo entre Venezuela y Cuba para la aplicación del ALBA. http://alba-tcp.org/contenido/acuerdo-para-la-aplicación-del-alba. Accessed 15 May 2013.
ALBA Secretaría Ejecutiva. 2009. III Reunion Consejo Economico. http://www.alba-tcp.org/contenido/iii-reunion-consejo-economico. Accessed 26 February 2016.
ALBA Secretaría Ejecutiva. 2010. Construyendo un Mundo Pluripolar: Cumbres 2004–2010.
ALBA-TCP. 2009. Principios Fundamentales del Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos (TCP). http://alba-tcp.org/contenido/principios-fundamentales-del-tratado-de-comercio-de-los-pueblos-tcp. Accessed 1 March 2016.
Arellano, F.G. 2009. Nacimiento, Evolución y Perspectivas de la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América. ILDIS-FES.
Bhagwati, J.N. 1995. US Trade Policy: The Infatuation with FTAs. Columbia University Discussion Paper Series, 726. http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:100125. Accessed 8 January 2014.
Chinas, C. 2011. Fortalezas y debilidades del ALBA. In Anuario de la integración latinoamericana y caribeña 2008, ed. J.A. Preciado Coronado, 159–165. Guadalajara, Mexico: ITESO. http://www.ieei-unesp.com.br/portal/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Anuario-de-la-integracion-2008.pdf. Accessed 10 January 2012.
COMEX. 2011. RESOLUCIÓN No. 15. http://www.produccion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/01/RESOLUCION-15.pdf. Accessed 8 June 2013.
Comisión Presidencial Asesora en las Negociaciones del ALCA. 2003. Del ALCA al ALBA: Claves de la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Americas.
Comunidad Andina. 1969. Acuerdo de Cartagena. http://intranet.comunidadandina.org/Documentos/DBasicos/DBasico1.doc. Accessed 2 December 2012.
Correa, R. 2009. Ecuador: de banana republic a la no república. Bogotá: Debate.
De Lombaerde, P., and Van Langenhove, L. 2006. Indicators of Regional Integration: Methodological Issues. IIIS Discussion Paper. http://www.cris.unu.edu/uploads/media/iiisdp64.pdf. Accessed 6 September 2012.
Díaz Crespo, J. 2011. ¿Negociación o imposición? AITE analiza el Protocolo al acuerdo marco de cooperación entre el Ecuador y Venezuela. Asociación de Industriales Textiles del Ecuador Boletín Mensual, 26 July, pp. 1–4.
El Comercio. 2011. El “impasse” entre Producción y Cancillería se ventila en Facebook, 2 June. http://www.elcomercio.com/negocios/impasse-Produccion-Cancilleria-ventila-Facebook_0_491350995.html. Accessed 27 March 2013.
El Universo. 2011. Empresarios perciben dos bandos en manejo de la política comercial, 2 June. http://www.eluniverso.com/2011/06/02/1/1356/empresarios-perciben-dos-bandos-manejo-politica-comercial.html. Accessed 30 June 2011.
Estévez, I. 2012. ¿Hacia dónde va la política comercial ecuatoriana? Nuevos elementos normativos en el ámbito comercial y sus implicaciones para el Acuerdo Comercial Multipartes con la Unión Europea. IAEN Cuadernos de Política Pública, (1). http://www.iaen.edu.ec/wordpress/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PolicePaper_digital.pdf. Accessed 12 May 2013.
Gaceta Oficial. 2011. Número 39.719. http://static.eluniversal.com/2011/08/02/gaceta39.719.pdf. Accessed 7 June 2013.
Girvan, N. 2011. Is ALBA a New Model of Integration? Reflections on the CARICOM Experience. Journal of Cuban Studies 3 (2/3): 157–180.
Hausmann, R., et al. 2011. The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity. Hollis, NH: Puritan Press.
Hoy. 2010. Ecuador propondrá a Venezuela un “Acuerdo de Comercio para el Desarrollo”, 18 February. http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/ecuador-propondra-a-venezuela-un-acuerdo-de-comercio-para-el-desarrollo-393502.html. Accessed 7 June 2013.
ICTSD. 2011. Ecuador buscaría negociar un Acuerdo para el Desarrollo con la Unión Europea. http://ictsd.org/i/news/puentesquincenal/101449/. Accessed 19 January 2014.
Malamud, A., and G.L. Gardini. 2012. Has Regionalism Peaked? The Latin American Quagmire and Its Lessons. The International Spectator 47 (1): 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2012.655013.
MRECI. 2010. Análisis de situación y perspectivas: comercio para el desarrollo Ecuador-Venezuela, October. http://www.embajadaecuador.com.ve/comercio%20justo.pdf. Accessed 6 June 2013.
Presidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela. 2007. Proyecto nacional Simón Bolívar – primer plan socialista: desarrollo económico y social de la nación 2007–2013.
República Bolivariana de Venezuela y República del Ecuador. 2011. Protocolo al Acuerdo Marco de Cooperación entre el Gobierno de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela y el Gobierno de la República del Ecuador para Profundizar los Lazos de Comercio y Desarrollo. http://www.camaradecomercioamericana.org/20110411%20Protocolo%20al%20Ac%20Marco%20vFinal.pdf. Accessed 6 July 2011.
República del Ecuador y República Bolivariana de Venezuela. 2010. Acuerdo Marco de Cooperación y Comercio entre la Republica del Ecuador y la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela para Profundizar los Lazos de Comercio y Desarrollo. http://www.mmrree.gob.ec/2010/ecu_ven_0310/ecu_ven_marco.pdf. Accessed 23 May 2013.
SENPLADES. 2009. Plan Nacional para el Buen Vivir 2009–2013: Construyendo un Estado Plurinacional e Intercultural.
———. 2011. Análisis sociopolítico y económico: Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América-Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos (ALBA–TCP).
Shadlen, K. 2008. Globalisation, Power and Integration: The Political Economy of Regional and Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Americas. Journal of Development Studies 44 (1): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562570701722089.
United Nations. 2010. Comtrade International Trade Statistics Database. http://comtrade.un.org/. Accessed 18 December 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cusack, A.K. (2019). The People’s Trade Agreement (TCP). In: Venezuela, ALBA, and the Limits of Postneoliberal Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95003-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95003-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95002-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95003-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)