Video Q&A: Carlos Gutierrez on Trade, the TPP, and Looking toward Asia

"If we get caught outside of Asia, that'll be a big problem," said Carlos Gutierrez in an interview with AS/COA Online, speaking on global trade integration and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, also known as TPP. He said that the TPP negotiations are entering their final part, which he called "the most difficult part," but noted that there is optimism that the process will conclude before the end of the Obama administration.

Gutierrez also said that, while bilateral trade deals or agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement are important, they're not "stitched together" into a pan-regional pact. "Ideally we should have a hemisphere that's united commercially so we can trade as a bloc, too, with China," he explained. 

The former U.S. commerce secretary spoke on the sidelines of AS/COA's 2015 Latin American Cities Conference in Santiago. He praised the country's open economy as a port of entry for Latin America in Asia's trade expansion.