On 1 January 2004, the US–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 observers 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:

• Introduction:
• The USSFTA: A Personal Perspective (T T B Koh)
• Lessons from the USSFTA Negotiations (Y K Ong)
• The A to Z of the USSFTA (W Choong)
• Selected Chapters of the Agreement:
• The Goods Package (R Ithnain)
• Textiles and Apparel (K N Ng)
• Intellectual Property Rights (W Y Liew)
• Labour (Y H Ong)
• Getting the FTA through Congress:
• Lobbying for the USSFTA (H C Chan)
• What I Learnt from the US Business Community (G H Neo)
• 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)
• and other papers

“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.”