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"Ambassador Koh is a master of the art of explaining in clear and simple terms how an international agreement was struck ... Professors Koh's usual readers and others, be they lawyers, economists, trade experts, foreign service officers, or simply the typically well-informed person interested in Singapore's regional trade agreements or what the USSFTA is about would want to have a copy of this book"

The Singapore Year Book of International Law

 

The United States- Singapore Free Trade Agreement: Highlights and Insights

edited by Tommy Koh and Chang Li Lin

On 1 January 2003, the United States-Singapore Free trade Agreement (USSFTA) came into force. The USSFTA was the result of a two-year negotiation process which started towards the end of the Clinton Administration and concluded under the Bush Administration. How did the negotiation process straddle the two administrations?  What is the rationale for the FTA?  What were the unique features of the negotiating process? Was negotiating with the US different from negotiating with other countries? How will the FTA benefit the two countries?  What is the impact on ASEAN, APEC and the WTO?

 

This book captures some of the personal insights thrown up in the negotiations and offers highlights and analysis of the USSFTA. Contributors to the volume include the Chief Negotiators of the two delegations, the US and Singapore Ambassadors, key negotiators and close observes of the process.  Selected key documents pertaining to the USSFTA process have also been included. This book is a comprehensive reader on the story behind the negotiations of the USSFTA.

Contents:

 

Section I: Introduction

The USSFTA: A Personal Perspective (T T B Koh)

 

The USSFTA: Personal Perspectives on the Process and Results (R F Ives)


Lessons from the USSFTA Negotiations (Y K Ong)

 

The USSFTA: Socio-Political Context (F L Lavin)


The A to Z of the USSFTA (W Choong)

 
 Section II: Selected Chapters of the Agreement

The Goods Package (R Ithnain)

 

Customs Administration (T L Lim)


Textiles and Apparel (K N Ng)

 

Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce (V D'Costa)

Competition Policy (M N Oo)


Intellectual Property Rights (W Y Liew)


Labour (Y H Ong)

 

Environment (A T Loh, S P Khoo, Y P Chua and F Tan)

 

The Role of Legal Counsel and Dispute Settlement (S Tiwari)


 Section III: Getting the FTA through Congress:

Lobbying for the USSFTA (H C Chan)


What I Learnt from the US Business Community (G H Neo)

 

Lobbying the American Business Community in Singapore (J Conley)


 Section IV:  Implementing the FTA:

The Impact of the USSFTA on Our Laws, Regulations and Procedures — The Process and the Substance (D Tang)


The USSFTA: The Impact on Government-Linked Companies and Singapore's Corporate Scene (V Khanna)

 

Koh, Tommy and Chang, Li Lin, eds. 2004. The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement: Highlight and Insights. Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies and World Scientific Publishing Co. Ltd.

(300 pages, ISBN 981 238 848 6)