Latin America Summit Aims to Promote Trade With Asia
Latin America Summit Aims to Promote Trade With Asia
AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth highlights Latin America’s leadership position as it seeks to increase trade with Asia through the Pacific Alliance.
Presidents of some of the most economically dynamic countries in Latin America are looking to promote a new trade group as an alternative to other regional blocs that have become more protectionist in recent years.
At a meeting this week of the Pacific Alliance, which includes Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru, leaders planned to work on decreasing trade barriers for goods and services, linking their stock markets and finding common ground on issues such as currency fluctuations. Their main goal is to increase trade with fast-growing Asian nations.
The leaders also will likely try to send the message that their countries are a safe place to invest in a bid to differentiate themselves from Mercosur, the South American trade bloc that includes Brazil and Argentina.
Venezuela joined Mercosur in 2012 after expropriating numerous foreign-owned firms in sectors such as food production, which relies heavily on imports. The country is now facing shortages of basic goods amid high inflation.
Mercosur frequently engages in trade squabbles and has adopted some protectionist measures in recent years. The member countries of the Pacific Alliance, meanwhile, have a strong track record of welcoming foreign investment....
"It is the first time in Latin America that nations in the area have taken a leadership position on trade. It stems from a position that they took that said, 'We can do this and we need to do this,'" said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society.
Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Sebastián Piñera of Chile and Ollanta Humala of Peru will meet in Cali, near Colombia's Pacific coast, on Wednesday and Thursday....
