Between Us
How difficult it is to achieve a high level of regional integration in trade in goods? This display uses the computer game Tetris as a metaphor to show that if you play well, you’ll get a high intraregional trade score and rank high among the regional blocs listed in the table on the right of the screen. If you don’t manage to fit your pieces together and clear the lines, your intraregional trade score will be low, and you’ll be towards the bottom of the ranking, behind the leading regional blocs.
Integrated
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are part of a complex, growing network of trade agreements. These agreements present different characteristics, in terms of both the issues under negotiation and the commitments made, and also the partners involved. Likewise, the different countries and blocs have followed different strategies when seeking new agreements, which are the result of diverse perspectives on integration into the global economy and ways of achieving this. Looking to the future, it will be necessary to take advantage of trade negotiations to address the challenges presented by a global economy that is organized into transnational value chains.
