U.S., Australian Actors to Fight Free Trade Deal

Actors in the U.S. and Australia plan to launch a campaign this week opposing the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries.

The Screen Actors Guild said it believed the agreement would make it harder for U.S. performers to share in royalties their work generated in Australia and would make it harder for Australia to adopt policies protecting its own programs.

U.S. trade officials and the Motion Picture Assn. of America both disputed SAG’s interpretation of the pact and questioned why an actors union was against polices aimed at loosening foreign markets to work by its members.

James Bates