Economic Ideas and North-South Preferential Trade Agreements in the Americas

Abstract

North-South Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) are an intensified version of the Uruguay round’s bargain, in which developing countries gain access to developed countries’ markets, expecting increase in inflows of foreign direct investment, but see their ‘policy space’ reduced (Shadlen, 2005). Focusing on United States’ PTAs in the Latin American region, this article seeks to answer why some Latin American countries found this bargain attractive while others did not. I argue that modern PTAs generate uncertainty over their costs and benefits, because there are not standardized tools to estimate the impact of the ‘trade-related’ provisions they include. As a result, policymakers turn to their general ideas about economic development, which assign different meanings to them, producing differing decisions. Empirically, it is shown that the argument complements previous explanations based on structural and societal variables.

Negotiating Trade in Services with China from the Uruguayan Perspective

“…However, one should not overlook the resistance that the Uruguayan government faced from a spectrum of the political system when trying to negotiate an FTA with the USA. There are concerns about the impact that FTAs on services can have on the policy space of its members to regulate the supply of services for legitimate public policy objectives (Porzecanski, 2010 andPose, 2019). However, it is submitted that subject to careful negotiations, such policy space can be preserved.…”

Uruguay en el acuerdo UE-MERCOSUR: economía política de posicionamientos e implicaciones

“…9 Este grupo advertía que, además de las escasas ganancias en términos comerciales (ya que EE.UU. es un competidor en los princi-pales productos de la canasta agroexportadora uruguaya, cuya producción además subsidia), las exigencias en disciplinas relacionadas como servicios, compras públicas y propiedad intelectual limitarían en forma grave la capacidad del Estado de impulsar políticas de incorporación de valor y desarrollo tardío (Panizza, 2008;Porzecanski, 2010;Garcé ,2014;López, 2016;Pose, 2019). A todo esto, además, se agregaba el propio riesgo de una salida del MER-COSUR, ante la resistencia de Argentina y Brasil de permitir la firma de un acuerdo bilateral.…”