The Premise and the Promise: Free Trade in the AmericasTransaction Publishers, 1992 M01 1 - 282 pages The vision of a hemispheric system of free trade charts a bold new course for U.S--Latin American relations that promises to transform the economic and political landscape of the hemisphere well into the next century. In "The Premise and the Promise, "analysts from the United States, Latin America, and Canada explore the dynamics of the process under way in the Americas today, what features free trade ought to have, how the process of regional integration should proceed, and how the regional architecture should be related to the international trading system. Mexico's decision to seek a free trade agreement with the United States and Washington's announcement of the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative turned the incipient integrationist revival of the mid-1980s in Latin America into a seemingly unstoppable force. If regionalism is to be a benign force, however, it must overcome the impulse toward closed, exclusionary arrangements and emulate the best features of the multilateral approach: a regional arrangement should be flexible enough to accommodate vast regional diversity, inclusive enough to allow all countries in the region to participate, and efficient enough not to impose unduly large costs on those excluded from the arrangement. The contents include: Sylvia Saborio, "Overview: The Long and Winding Road from Anchorage to Patagonia," Peter Morici, "American Free Trade: A U.S. Perspective," Jos" Salazar and Eduardo Lizano, "Free Trade hi the Americas: A Latin American Perspective," Richard Lipsey, "Getting There: A Canadian View on WHFTA's Structure," and Refik Erzan and Alexander Yeats, "Empirical Evidence on the Impact of Free Trade Agreements with the United States on Latin America." In six separate chapters, analysts weigh the costs and benefits of subregional free trade agreements between the United States and Mexico, Chile, Central America, Caricom, the Andean Pact, and Mercosur. |
Contents
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POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS | 69 |
Free Trade in the Americas A Latin American Perspective | 75 |
COSTS AND BENEFITS OF FREE TRADE | 76 |
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS | 175 |
USChile Free Trade | 179 |
TRENDS IN CHILEAN TRADE POLICY | 180 |
PATTERNS OF TRADE WITH PROSPECTIVE NAFTA MEMBERS | 183 |
ISSUES FOR USCHILEAN NEGOTIATION | 188 |
CONCLUSIONS | 191 |
USCentral America Free Trade | 195 |
CENTRAL AMERICAS TRADE PROFILE | 196 |
LATIN AMERICAN NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES | 79 |
MACROECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION | 84 |
RELATIVE RECIPROCITY AND TRANSITIONAL MEASURES | 87 |
CONCLUSIONS | 90 |
Getting There The Path To A Western Hemisphere Free Trade Area And Its Structure | 95 |
DO WE REALLY WANT A WHFTA? | 96 |
PRECONDITIONS FOR A WHFTA | 104 |
THE INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE | 105 |
CONCLUSIONS | 114 |
USLatin America Free Trade Areas Some Empirical Evidence | 117 |
LIKELY EFFECTS OF FTAS ON LATIN AMERICAN EXPORTS | 120 |
SIMULATION RESULTS FOR USLATIN AMERICA FTAS | 122 |
POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON RAW MATERIAL PROCESSING | 124 |
TRADE BARRIERS FACING THE UNITED STATES IN LATIN AMERICA | 126 |
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS | 128 |
DISMANTLING PROTECTION IN SENSITIVE SECTORS | 146 |
The North American Free Trade Agreement A Regional Model? | 157 |
US AND MEXICAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE NAFTA | 158 |
TRADE IN GOODS | 160 |
NEW ISSUES | 164 |
CONSULTATIONS AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT | 167 |
ENVIRONMENTAL AND LABOR ISSUES | 170 |
ACCESSION TO THE NAFTA | 172 |
THE CHALLENGE OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION | 202 |
FREE TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES? | 210 |
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS | 214 |
USCaricom Free Trade | 217 |
EXTERNAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF CARICOM | 218 |
A FREE TRADE AREA AND CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | 222 |
THE DESIRABILITY OF THE FREE TRADE AREA | 224 |
ISSUES FOR NEGOTIATION | 225 |
CARIBBEAN PROSPECTS INSIDE A NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AREA | 227 |
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS | 229 |
USAndean Pact Free Trade | 233 |
USANDEAN PACT TRADE RELATIONS | 237 |
A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT | 241 |
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS | 245 |
USMercosur Free Trade | 249 |
AN OVERVIEW | 253 |
A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT | 261 |
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS | 265 |
Membership of Selected Regional Trade Agreements | 275 |
About the Overseas Development Council | 277 |
About the Authors | 280 |