Comercio y el Desarrollo

This report analyzes the evolution of Peru's trade and investment policies from the 1990s through 2009, focusing on how sustainable development standards—specifically labor and environmental regulations—have been integrated into its national agenda. The author argues that these standards were primarily driven by external pressures and conditionalities from trade agreements, most notably the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, rather than internal priorities.

• Peru's trade policy shifted from an import substitution industrialization model to an aggressive unilateral opening in the 1990s. This transition saw the average tariff drop from 66% in the late 1980s to 13.1% between 1991 and 1998, and eventually to a simple average of 5.8% by 2007.
• The adoption of sustainable development standards in Peru's trade agenda was largely conditioned by external factors. The author posits that the labor and environmental standards in the FTA with the United States were a 'cost' accepted by the pro-liberalization coalition to ensure the agreement's passage and make the 1990s reforms irreversible.
• The FTA with the United States introduced significant environmental obligations, including the mandatory implementation of laws to comply with several multilateral agreements (AMUMAS). Notably, the agreement grants United States authorities the power to conduct activities to enforce environmental legislation within Peruvian territory, specifically regarding the forestry sector.
• Labor standards were strengthened through the 2007 Protocol of Amendment to the US-Peru FTA, which requires Peru to adopt and apply five fundamental rights: freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced labor, the abolition of child labor, and the elimination of discrimination in employment.
• Peru created the Ministry of Environment (Ministerio del Ambiente) in May 2008 to centralize environmental institutions and create a comprehensive policy, partly as a commitment for the implementation of the FTA with the United States.
• The European Union's Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (SGP-Plus) imposes conditionalities on Peru, requiring the ratification and implementation of international instruments regarding human rights, labor rights, and the environment to maintain preferential trade status.
• There is a sharp internal conflict regarding the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The Ministry of Agriculture supports them for food security and yield, while the Ministry of Environment and groups like ADEX and CONVEAGRO oppose them to protect native biodiversity and organic exports.
• Biocommerce is identified as a strategic sector for poverty reduction, particularly in the Sierra and Selva regions. While Peru possesses 20% of the world's biodiversity, its biocommerce exports represented only 0.03% of the global natural products market.
• Peru is transitioning its energy matrix to reduce dependence on imported diesel. This includes mandatory blends of biofuels: a 2% biodiesel blend starting January 2009 (increasing to 5% in 2011) and a 7.8% ethanol blend starting January 2010.
• The implementation of the FTA led to over 90 Legislative Decrees, some of which are contested as unconstitutional. Specifically, laws regarding forestry and agricultural land use are criticized for potentially allowing deforested lands to be reclassified as 'wastelands' (tierras eriazas) for agro-industrial use.

APA

Reinoso, A. F. (2009). Comercio y el Desarrollo. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_peru_es.pdf

Chicago

Reinoso, Alan Fairlie. Comercio y el Desarrollo. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2009. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_peru_es.pdf.

Wikipedia

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

BibTeX

@techreport{reinoso2009comercio, author = {Reinoso, Alan Fairlie}, title = {{Comercio y el Desarrollo}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2009}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_trade_peru_es.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }