Trade Preferential Agreements in Latin America: An Ex-Ante Assessment

March 1996 As a rule, preferential trade agreements between countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will probably be far less meaningful than they are in Europe or even than they are in the Asia-Pacific region. But most Latin American countries would benefit from such an agreement with the United States. In the past decade a sea change has taken place in trade policies in Latin America: within a few years, most of the region's economies have changed from restrictive to open policies. But unlike trade liberalization in Europe, most trade barriers in Latin America have been reduced unilaterally. Recently bilateral or multilateral agreements have been considered, especially preferential trade agreements within the region....