Free trade zones and corporate strategies in Latin America

Abstract

In addition to the main three countries in Latin America, two scholars of JMNESG visited the Republic of Chile in 2002. Before the 1960s, Chile was considered one of the ABC developing countries: A stands for Argentina, B for Brazil, and C for Chile. A and B, however, have worked closely together to realize the outstanding economic cooperation treaty, MERCOSUR. The automobile treaty and safeguard measures were agreed between the two countries. Chile entered into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, so that she was away from A and B and went her own way to strengthen the relationship with NAFTA countries. The Chilean economy stabilized, showing foreign currency reserves at the end of 2005 amounting to US$16.96 billion that was a 5.9 percent increase compared with the previous yeas. The average unemployment rate in Chile was eight percent in 2005 and the rate has been the lowest among ABC since 2000. There has been no automobile assembler in Chile, and this fact allowed the country to enter into the FTA, while the economy is characterized by primary industry such as agriculture, fishery, and copper mining.