摘要：Regionalism is an integral part of the broader economic policy reforms that have occurredin the Western Hemisphere over the last decade. Beginning in the mid-1980s, many LatinAmerican countries undertook comprehensive economic reform programs, including afundamental shift from the "import-substitution" development policies of previous decades tomore open, market-based policies. In the north, Canada and the United States also implementedpolicy reforms, particularly for agriculture, reducing government intervention in markets andliberalizing trade barriers. Regional trade agreements have been a key factor in advancing andconsolidating the market-oriented reforms underway in the hemisphere. As a result of the policyreforms in the hemisphere, economic growth has accelerated, averaging 3.5 percent for LatinAmerican countries in the 1990s compared with 1.1 percent during the decade of the 1980s. Total trade and agricultural trade have increased, particularly within the hemisphere. This paperexamines the dynamic effects of regional integration agreements in the Western Hemisphere onU.S. agriculture and trade, taking into account the economic growth that has followed in thewake of opening in trade in the Americas.
