Course Descriptions

Course A:  Introduction to NAFTA and Other International Trade Agreements (2 units)
Professor James Cooper	Now that NAFTA is well into its second decade, we can truly understand the extent of its reach and its results.  This survey course introduces Fair Trade Academy participants to the major issues of NAFTA – from human issues like social dumping to health and public safety concerns over cross border pharmaceutical sales.  We provide a detailed examination of border security, corporate practices and other governance issues. We look at competing jurisdictions, new forms of sovereignty, and the rise of the surveillance society.  We dissect the Agreement and explore the background behind its ratification and implementation across the region. Finally, the course looks at the general question of harmonization and how the Security and Prosperity Partnershipof North America views homeland defense.  While the course examines the underpinnings of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent bilateral and regional trade agreements, also explores whether these agreements have been successful and, if so, for whom.  The course features workshops with local activists, law enforcement officials, jurists, diplomats and other stakeholders involved in the border region. It is expected that there will be field trips to Tijuana and other border areas in this course.  Appropriate travel documents are required.
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Course B: NAFTA and International Labor and Employment Law (1 unit)
	This course focuses on NAFTA and other hemispheric trade agreements and the renewed attention to human rights, labor rights and labor standards in the context of an international economy heavily regulated by bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. The course devotes specific attention to the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), a separate agreement entered into between the United States, Canada and Mexico upon signing NAFTA.   Issues surrounding the new Central American Free Trade Agreement and proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas also will be explored.   The course will provide background readings on labor, human rights, and international trade law and policy, as well as detailed discussion of issues where labor, human rights and trade policy intersect.  The class also will address the effectiveness of the labor provisions in hemispheric trade agreements as problem-solving mechanisms.   Finally, the course will look at the general question of harmonization of labor laws between countries that share borders.
Professor Ruben Garcia
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Course C:   NAFTA and International Environmental Law (2 units)
Professor Richard Finkmoore	This course explores the precedent-setting rules and processes of the NAFTA regime which attempt to reconcile trade and environmental concerns.  To understand the international legal context for NAFTA, we begin with an overview of global and hemispheric environmental challenges and a brief history of international environmental law.  We introduces the process of making international law and the institutions involved in its implementation. We then examine the specific environmental provisions in NAFTA (such as the role of multilateral environmental agreements and the applicability of the precautionary principle in setting standards). One focus for our studies is the “environmental side agreement,” which represents a comprehensive effort to improve environmental cooperation among the three NAFTA parties.  In addition, we consider a second NAFTA-related agreement that addresses the pressing environmental problems in U.S.-Mexico border region.  We conclude with assessments of NAFTA’s environmental provisions and the implication of these path-breaking agreements for recent and future international trade agreements.
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