Comercio y el Desarrollo

The report analyzes Chile's transition from a protectionist to a liberal trade regime, highlighting the country's active inclusion of environmental and labor commitments in 12 of its 19 trade agreements. While Chile has aligned its foreign policy with multilateral environmental agreements and the ILO, the author notes a significant gap in the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI), which largely ignores sustainability. The document identifies critical weaknesses, including the lack of a comprehensive strategic vision for sustainable development, the nascent state of climate change integration in trade (specifically regarding carbon footprints), and persistent labor challenges such as high informality. It concludes by proposing a research agenda to shift FDI toward knowledge-intensive sectors and to improve the enforcement of environmental and labor clauses through better data and cooperation.

• Chile has transitioned from a protectionist approach to a markedly liberal trade policy since 1973, resulting in over twenty trade liberalization agreements and a significant reduction in average tariffs from 100% in 1973 to 6% by 2009.
• Chile is more active than regional peers like Brazil and Argentina in incorporating sustainability into trade; of its 19 active trade agreements, 12 include environmental commitments and 8 include labor commitments.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) procedures in Chile largely ignore environmental, labor, or climate change issues, and lack a focus on sustainable development.
• The inclusion of environmental and labor clauses in trade agreements was driven by international trends, demands from trading partners (such as Canada and the NAFTA framework), and the desire to maintain consistency with Chile's multilateral environmental and ILO commitments.
• Chile's integration of sustainable development in trade is hindered by the absence of a long-term strategic vision, resulting in a reactive and fragmented approach to environmental commitments.
• Chile is lagging in incorporating climate change into its trade agenda, which is concerning given the imminent arrival of market and regulatory requirements related to the 'carbon footprint'.
• The primary challenges for fulfilling labor commitments in trade agreements are high levels of labor informality and low unionization rates, and since sanctions are unlikely, the recommended path is specific cooperation initiatives.
• There is a risk that developed countries may shift carbon-intensive industries to Chile to avoid their own emission restrictions; the author suggests an economic incentive system to direct FDI toward knowledge-intensive sectors instead of natural resource-intensive ones.

APA

Claro, E. (2009). Comercio y el Desarrollo. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_chile_es.pdf

Chicago

Claro, Edmundo. Comercio y el Desarrollo. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2009. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_chile_es.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Claro |first1=Edmundo |title=Comercio y el Desarrollo |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2009 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_chile_es.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{claro2009comercio, author = {Claro, Edmundo}, title = {{Comercio y el Desarrollo}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2009}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_chile_es.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }