Regional and Preferential Agreements: The ‘Pacific’ and ‘Atlantic’ Styles in Latin America

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays, two fundamentally different institutional responses to global economic liberalization coexist in Latin America: the ‘Atlantic style’ (closer to closed regionalism) and the ‘Pacific style’ (closer to open regionalism). In the context of never-ending efforts of an elusive Latin-American integration, this chapter advances the idea that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is at least successful in consolidating a model of economic integration based on preferential trade and investment agreements for an important group of Latin American countries that follow the ‘Pacific’ style. Whereas the Pacific Alliance countries have embraced neoliberal trade and investment agreements actively and expanded their scope of influence, other countries, such as the Bolivarian Alliance, have responded with active counter-organizing but with fading influence in the region. But as often happens in Latin America, these styles are not absolute and being tempered by countries like Argentina that have blends or pragmatist (pick-and-choose) strategies, taking elements from both styles.