The Free Trade Agreement applies specific rules of origin to products similar to those of NAFTA and defines the general rule that a product is considered to be covered by the Agreement when „the product is wholly obtained or manufactured in the territory of one or both Contracting Parties” and distinguishes them from „simple combination or packaging operations” that do not fall within the scope of this Free Trade Agreement. For the United States, market access and, in particular, tariff reduction were a central objective of the negotiations. For countries that have trade agreements with Chile, such as Canada, the single 6% duty on most goods will be removed, a benefit the U.S. wanted to eliminate. A recurring question in the United States Congress with respect to the trade negotiation process was to what extent does one agreement become a model for another? For example, when the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement was signed in December 2002, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced that it could serve as a „model” for the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). (24) Chile also considered that one logic was to give priority to a free trade agreement with the United States, since export promotion was a constituent element of its growth and development strategy. Guaranteed access to the large U.S. market offers opportunities for increased and perhaps more diversified trade. Chile also saw increased foreign investment as an accompanying benefit to the free trade agreement, arguing that its well-established record of economic and trade reforms made it the Latin American country most willing to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement. In short, despite its relatively small economy, Chile presented itself as a country ready, willing and able to negotiate a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with the United States.

8. (return) Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Integration and Trade in the Americas: Periodic Note, December 2000. Washington, D.C, p. 14. At the other end of the spectrum, manufactured goods account for 71% of Mexican exports, reflecting Maquiladora`s large amount of trade with the United States. In addition to tariff reductions, trade mitigation measures have posed considerable challenges for negotiators. .

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