US-Latin American Economic Relations

1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Weintraub

The United States, during the past several years, has squandered a heaven-sent opportunity to cement its already deep economic relations with Latin America. There is no certainty that the neglect will be altered in the near term.A series of transformations made the 1990s an ideal time to consolidate improved economic relations with Latin America. The end of the Cold War meant that US dealings with Latin America could be based on mutual realities in the Hemisphere rather than be shaped through the one-way prism of East-West confrontation. There was a profound paradigm shift that swept just about all the countries of the Hemisphere, away from protectionism and toward open markets as the path to economic growth.

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Silverman

A survey was conducted on the promotion of 28 prescription drugs in the form of 40 different products marketed in the United States and Latin America by 23 multinational pharmaceutical companies. Striking differences were found in the manner in which the identical drug, marketed by the identical company or its foreign affiliate, was described to physicians in the United States and to physicians in Latin America. In the United States, the listed indications were usually few in number, while the contraindications, warnings, and potential adverse reactions were given in extensive detail. In Latin America, the listed indications were far more numerous, while the hazards were usually minimized, glossed over, or totally ignored. The differences were not simply between the United States on the one hand and all the Latin American countries on the other. There were substantial differences within Latin America, with the same global company telling one story in Mexico, another in Central America, a third in Ecuador and Colombia, and yet another in Brazil. The companies have sought to defend these practices by contending that they are not breaking any Latin American laws. In some countries, however, such promotion is in clear violation of the law. The corporate ethics and social responsibilities concerned here call for examination and action.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
L. Klochkovsky

There are substantial changes in the evolution of world economy and world economic relations. The growth rates of international trade have diminished two-fold, the prices for oil and other commodities have fallen, and the competition on world markets has sharpened greatly. These new trends complicate fundamentally external conditions for the economic development of peripheral regions, especially Latin America. Latin American countries have reached a phase of considerable economic deceleration. Under these circumstances, there is an urgent need for reconsideration of key conclusions made by some Russian experts on the possibilities of the future economic and social growth of Latin America. The author examines the most discussed aspects of the Latin American modern economic situation – the deepening technological gap and slow rates of technological progress, the limited role of internal economic motive forces, the conservation of foreign economic dependence. The future of Latin America’s economic development is uncertain in many respects and will depend greatly on foreign economic conditions. The new world balance opened important additional possibilities for Latin America on world markets. China has converted into the second largest economic partner of the region. But there is a number of complicated problems in their relations that need an urgent regulation. At the same time, the strategic task for Latin America consists in finding of effective ways for further broadening of economic relations with the United States in terms of equality and mutual benefit.


Author(s):  
Osvaldo Rosales

Latin America experienced economic ups and downs in the past decade, and faces a gloomy outlook for 2015–2020. This chapter first delineates the near-term growth prospects for the region, examining the subregional patterns closely with three national cases—Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela—and analyzing the external constraints for the region’s economic growth. It then examines the major challenges ahead for the region with analysis of Latin America’s economic relationship with the United States and China, respectively. On the one hand, while the U.S.’s current bilateral approach leaves the economic relationship with the region fragmented, the economic and trade cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America can be strengthened through fostering productive integration and the development of regional value chains oriented toward the U.S. market. On the other hand, China’s growing presence in the region poses challenges to Latin America countries, namely achieving export diversification, diversification of Chinese investments in the region, and Latin investment in China and Asia-Pacific.


Author(s):  
Iñigo García-Bryce

This chapter explores Haya’s changing relationship with the United States. As an exiled student leader he denounced “Yankee imperialism” and alarmed observers in the U.S. State Department. Yet once he entered Peruvian politics, Haya understood the importance of cultivating U.S.-Latin American relations. While in hiding he maintained relations with U.S. intellectuals and politicians and sought U.S. support for his embattled party. His writings increasingly embraced democracy and he maneuvered to position APRA as an ally in the U.S. fight fascism during the 1930s and 40s, and then communism during the Cold War. The five years he spent in Lima’s Colombian embassy awaiting the resolution of his political asylum case, made him into an international symbol of the democratic fight against dictatorship. He would always remain a critic of U.S. support for dictatorships in Latin America.


Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent

This chapter examines how the United States and the Soviet Union tried to maintain their respective spheres of influence during the Cold War, especially in three regions: Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Latin America. The death of Joseph Stalin and the assumption of power by the triumvirate of Lavrenti Beria, Nikita Khrushchev, and Georgi Malenkov resulted in a fresh approach to domestic issues and to the nature of Soviet control over its European satellites. The apparent change produced a new Soviet approach to East–West relations. The chapter first considers how the new Soviet leadership addressed the crisis in East Germany before analysing American influence in Western Europe and US relations with Latin America. The discussion covers themes and events such as the Soviet policy on Hungary and Poland, the Messina Conference and the Spaak Committee, nuclear cooperation and multilateral force, and the US response to the Cuban Revolution.


Author(s):  
Friedrich E. Schuler

The English-speaking world awaits its first detailed study examining Latin America during World War I. Many historical events of the era remain little-known, as does much of the region’s military history during this period. While key chronologies, personalities, groups, and historical avenues remain unidentified, researchers must draw knowledge from existing texts. The authors cited in this article for further study cover only a small fraction of the myriad topics presented by the war. World War I set in motion a unique power readjustment in Latin America, the likes of which had not been experienced in the region since the 1820s. Most significantly, the temporary suspension of economic ties with Europe disrupted everyday processes that elites and commoners had previously taken for granted. Changes in economy and finance triggered a struggle between indigenous Americans, peasants, workers, elites, and immigrants, setting the stage for the social and political changes of the 1920s. Amidst the upheaval of World War I, non-elite Latin American groups successfully focused national politics on regional and ethnic issues, while elite Latin Americans weighed the potential advantages of ties with Spanish and Italian authoritarianism. World War I ended European financial dominance over the region, and the destruction of Europe reduced export markets to a point where Latin America’s economic relations with the United States gained new significance. U.S. military advisors took their places alongside European trainers, and many different “U.S.” actors emerged on Latin American soil, acting out rivaling understandings of appropriate U.S. activity in Latin America. The war heralded the end of Belgian influence and of significant French power in the region, British acceptance of U.S. financial preeminence, and questions as to how Prussian military expertise could be leveraged to Latin America’s benefit in the future. The creation of the League of Nations, a development alien to Latin American political culture, caught the region off guard. And yet it laid the foundation for global Latin American diplomacy in the 1930s and after World War II. In the end, the search for a new understanding of a Latin American nation’s place on the changing world stage led to the elevation of the institution of the national army as a social and political arbiter. The myth of the army as embodiment of national essence would last until the 1980s.


1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Shirley Christian

There has always been a certain attitude in Washington having to do with Latin America. It is that Latin America is not quite a grown-up place and, therefore, is worthy of intense US interest only when the region, or part of it, falls into a crisis that crosses paths with one of the US hot-button issues of the moment: drugs, immigration, human rights, communism (until recently) and, farther back, fascism. In other words, Latin America has been worthy of attention only when the United States decided to “do good” (e.g., human rights crusades), incorporate the region into efforts at solving US domestic problems (e.g., drugs), or needed firm support from the region in some international effort (e.g., the Cold War and World War II).


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Nilay Yıldız ◽  

This article is written to summarize what has been going on in trade war between the United States and China and to express how this war affects trade relations of Latin America with both of the actors being involved in the trade war. The reason why Latin America is chosen as a region to work on rests on the fact that both the United States and China have been conducting considerable trade relations with the region. This article is organized to analyze what kind of a position Latin America would be at during the upcoming moves from two giants and how the region should revise its ties with both economies considering the past relations it has had with before this trade war emerged. There have been many moves taken by the United States and China after the dispute started to show up; however, Latin America has been conducting considerable relations in terms of trade, politics, historical orientation, and geographical ties with both giants since long before the trade dispute began. Therefore, this article has an aim to recover the historical trade relations of Latin America and to have some clues to determine what can come next for the region’s economic position and trade relations. Colonial past of the region, the role it has played during the Cold War, the involvement of the Latin America in trade relations with China, and Chinese presence in the region are the factors that are included in the article to understand the critical position of Latin America in the Sino–US trade war.


Author(s):  
Rubrick Biegon

Following the end of the Cold War, the hegemony of the United States in Latin America was intimately related to the globalization of the hemispheric political economy. Free-trade agreements (FTAs) were crucial to this process, helping to extend and entrench the neoliberal model. As a result of the region’s political turn to the left during the 2000s, however, the Washington Consensus became increasingly untenable. As U.S. trade policy subsequently moved in the direction of a “post-Washington Consensus,” the “Pink Tide” fostered the creation of Latin American-led approaches to integration independent of the United States. In this context, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was designed to catalyse a new wave of (neo)liberalization among its 12 participating countries, including the United States, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Mexico. The TPP codified an updated and comprehensive set of rules on an array of trade and investment disciplines not covered in existing agreements. Strategically linking the Asia-Pacific to the Americas, but excluding China, the TPP responded to China’s growing economic presence in Asia and Latin America. Largely a creation of U.S. foreign economic policy, the United States withdrew from the TPP prior to its ratification and following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. The remaining 11 countries signed a more limited version of the agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which is open to future participation by the United States and other countries in Asia and Latin America. The uncertainties in the TPP process represented the further erosion of Washington’s “free trade” consensus, reflecting, among other things, a crisis of U.S. hegemony in the Americas.


Author(s):  
Thomas C. Field Jr.

The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward the region ranged from progressive developmentalism to outright military invasions, and from psychological warfare to covert paramilitary action. Above all, the United States sought to shore up its allies and maintain the Western Hemisphere as a united front against extra-hemispheric ideologies and influence. The Cold War was a bloody, violent period for Latin America, but it was also one marked by heady idealism, courageous political action, and fresh narratives about Latin America’s role in the world, all of which continue to inform regional politics to this day.


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