Could the Pacific Alliance become the vehicle for the economic ties across the Pacific Rim that were the aim of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The four members of the trade bloc – Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – are among Latin America’s leading advocates for...
Brazilian meat exports have taken a big hit. On March 17, Brazil’s federal police raided meat packers accused of paying off inspectors to okay rotten and adulterated meat for market, capping a two-year investigation into official corruption dubbed “Operation Weak...
The Latin American economy’s recession could deepen if China’s economy slows much more, says the International Monetary Fund in a new report that marks down already gloomy forecasts for the region. Brazil, Latin America’s biggest economy, is a drag on the entire...
Latin America’s economy is moving at two speeds, according to BBVA, with the Pacific Alliance gaining ground as Mercosur, the Common Market of the South, slips into reverse in 2015 and on into 2016. In its first-quarter 2016 outlook, the Spanish bank lowers its...
The Mercosur countries feeling the pinch of China’s economic rebalancing act with its cutbacks in imports (as we wrote yesterday in Mercosur’s Falling Currencies Failing to Lift Exports) are not alone: Any country that counts on China as a customer for its exports is...
One benefit of a weakening currency should be exports priced to move in the global marketplace. So the slide in value of, for example, Brazil’s real should be translating into rising exports. But that’s not happening in Brazil or other key emerging markets that the...
An eight-day strike by the National Association of Customs Officers in Chile ended yesterday, clearing the way for shipments of Chilean salmon to resume. The strike affected all Chilean exporters, but the exporters of perishables – seafood, fruits and vegetables –...
Last month, South Korean President Park Geun-hye wound up a four-nation swing through South America in search of expanded trade and economic cooperation. In Colombia, Park pressed for ratification of the pending free trade agreement (approved by Colombia’s Congress...
Argentina’s Congress has just approved a bundle of agreements that set the terms of a “strategic integral alliance” with China. As MercoPress reports, the two countries will be cooperating on infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, mining, technology, and agricultural...
The trade data shows US polyethylene net exports decreased 20% in October and 7% in November 2014 compared to the same months in 2013 – continuing a downward trend that has persisted since 2009 and through last year’s first three quarters: The US is still a net...
