The year 2010 marked the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Area (USIFTA). Documents newly declassified in 2009 reveal a stunning 1984-1987 FBI investigation of Israeli embassy and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) activities that compromised the position of U.S. industry and worker groups while undermining the legitimacy of the trade negotiating process. Ongoing intrigues involving pharmaceuticals, proprietary weapons technologies (including nuclear weapons related materials) and stiff market barriers have continued—frequently landing Israel on the U.S. Trade Representative’s punitive “watch list.” Presentation to the Finance and Economics Council at the University of Rochester, April 6, 2011
