Free trade in the Americas and sub-regional integration in Central America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Sub-regional integration in Central America and the Caribbean has adopted a new orientation since the end of the 1980s. The dynamics of this new direction can be understood within the larger context of trade liberalisation in the larger American hemisphere, expressed in the regional strategy of the United States. The creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the initiative for the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have influenced the policies of the Central American and Caribbean countries towards sub-regional integration. The elaboration of four possible patterns of larger hemispheric regionalism provides a framework for the analysis of sub-regional integration in this region.