22 :: Trans-Pacific Trade, Integration, and Development
America, the ratio of intra-regional exports increased by 8 percent to reach 19 percent in 2008. The intra-Asian trade ratio grew by 10 percent to 42 percent. Although the robust growth of intra-firm and intra-industry trade helped boost the expansion of intra-Asian trade, LAC subregional intraregional trade ratios have recently surpassed Asia. For example, during 2008, intra-regional trade among Mercosur countries amounted to 25 percent and CACM reached 28 percent, which exceeded ASEAN’s ratio of 23 percent (Table 1.2). The current agendas in both regions point to a desire to reduce the complexities of the overlapping system of FTAs. The 11 so-called Arco del Pacifico countries of the west coast of Latin America are exploring ways to better integrate the dozen agreements among them. The Mesoamerica Project countries, from Mexico to Colombia, are a subset of the above, and include regional infrastructure issues in discussions on trade reform. The US and Canada are also participating in the “Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas” initiative, which aims at building synergies among the agree-
TABLE 1.2/ Intra-regional Trade (share of exports), 2008 changes from 1990 in italics; shaded cells are intra-regional trade flows
Exporting Region
LAC Mercosur Nafta Caricom
Direction US & CACM Canada
LAC
19%
12%
47%
1%
2%
47%
14%
10%
8%
5%
1%
0%
1%
2%
–9%
–1%
0%
Mercosur
36%
25%
24%
2%
1%
–13%
22%
17%
4%
23%
15%
–3%
2%
0%
13%
–11%
1%
1%
Nafta
15%
5%
49%
1%
1%
42%
16%
16%
4%
5%
3%
8%
0%
1%
6%
–6%
–4%
0%
Caricom
20%
2%
47%
17%
2%
44%
16%
3%
0%
EU
Asia ASEAN 2%
20%
2%
–39%
17%
2%
–41%
4%
1%
–5%
CACM
38%
2%
41%
1%
28%
37%
13%
8%
1%
7%
1%
–8%
0%
3%
–9%
–4%
6%
1%
US & Canada
16%
5%
43%
1%
1%
35%
18%
18%
4%
6%
2%
3%
0%
1%
0%
–4%
–3%
0%
EU
2%
1%
8%
0%
0%
8%
64%
7%
2%
1%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
–3%
1%
0%
Asia
4%
2%
17%
0%
1%
16%
18%
42%
13%
2%
1%
–13%
0%
0%
–13%
–1%
10%
0%
ASEAN
3%
1%
12%
1%
12%
13%
56%
23%
2%
1%
–8%
1%
–8%
–4%
7%
3%
Source: UN Comtrade (2009)
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