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This chapter discusses the creation of the Pacific Alliance comprising four countries: Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia. It shows that is not only a free trade agreement between these countries but also a multidimensional regional integration with political, economic, and cultural perspectives. Programs and actions have been structured in a way that allows and promotes integral growth of Latin American citizens. For this reason, it is important to analyze in this chapter the opportunities that Alliance Pacific generates with respect to each of these three aspects. (1) Political and diplomatic implications like eliminating visa requirements for the members, sharing some embassies, facilitating labor mobility between these countries, and proposing the creation of a joint parliament. (2) Economic and trade implications with a gradual elimination of tariffs that will allow companies to be more competitive, creation of different government agencies in each country to support business and promote intra-regional trade of goods and services, and create a joint platform to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and gender equity. Finally, (3) Cultural and educational implications, as the creation of “Student and Academic Mobility Platform” of the Pacific Alliance with scholarships for students and researchers, the integration of a “Technical Education Group” to foster integration and social inclusion of children and adolescents, and the creation of “Sports Diplomacy Program” and a “Scientific Research Network on Climate Change.” Although there are still several challenges for improvement in the Pacific Alliance, it is an agreement that will bring stability, welfare, and development effects for the members of these countries.

Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has built bilateral relations with Latin American states. The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for using the Pacific Alliance (PA) as a negotiating frame as regards the Belt and Road Initiative.

We use a descriptive and analytical methodology to recapitulate and analyze the factual and normative background of Latin American economic integration during the last three decades, a process that so far has culminated in the Pacific Alliance (PA) and an emphasis on the Asia–Pacific region.

We contend that the PA has been a learning process in terms of economic cooperation. In addition, it is a Latin American economic integration project that emphasizes its focus on the Asia–Pacific region. Considering the nature of BRI projects, as well as Latin American states’ and China’s interests, we contend that it would be beneficial if Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, the members of the PA, and China channeled their BRI relations through the PA. Thus, the PA should be China’s negotiating partner.

So far, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Latin America has been built upon bilateral relations. This article explores the possibility of developing the BRI through the Pacific Alliance (PA).

This chapter presents information regarding the significance of the Pacific Alliance in the commercial development in Mexico. Mexico’s integration with the countries of the Pacific Alliance (Peru, Colombia, and Chile) is highlighted through statistical analysis of the composition of Mexico’s exports, the future of the country’s exports, and the balance of trade. Some of these challenges are the growth and diversification of exports, internationalization of small business enterprises, and reduction of the balance of trade deficit with respect to some of its main export products. Results showed that Mexico’s three Latin American commercial partners together represented the third-highest destination for its exports, where Mexico had a favorable balance of trade, which suggests that a further opening of these countries’ economies would bring benefits to Mexican economy.

The decrease of Mexican exports since 2012 to countries such as Chile and Colombia are symptoms that the Pacific Alliance free trade agreement needs more support in order to represent an opportunity to increase export diversification, since most of the Mexico-exported goods go to the United States. This can bring economic and political risks because of the overreliance on one trading partner.

The results also showed that most of Mexico’s exports to the Pacific Alliance country members are hi-tech products. The principal exports in terms of sales come from the telecommunications industry, transportation industry, and the home appliance industry. The rest of the main products exported come from medium- or low-technology industries, with high levels of local added value.

This chapter aims to analyze whether member countries of the Pacific Alliance agreement showed economic and financial convergence during the 2010–2016 period. The sample consists of four Latin American countries that are members of the Alianza del Pacífico (Pacific Alliance): Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. We use an economic convergence index (ECI) to classify the degree of the countries’ convergence regarding a given monetary area, considering the size of their economy, and compute three criteria: (1) nominal variables (used to define the Maastricht criteria), which are inflation, long-term interest rates, public debt, fiscal deficit as percentages of gross domestic product (GDP), and exchange rate volatility; (2) real and cyclical variables such as real GDP growth, gap between real GDP and potential GDP, unemployment, current account balance as a percentage of GDP, and short-term interest rates; and (3) a conditional combination that unequally weights nominal and real variables. We also use correlation analysis to compare coefficients. The results can be analyzed in the medium term in terms of descriptive statistics of their real and nominal variables, convergence indexes, and correlation analysis. The results show that the countries of the Pacific Alliance under study are converging in terms of nominal variables such as interest rate, exchange rate, fiscal deficits, and government debt. Also it can be observed that convergence occurs in real and weighted variables, although to a lesser magnitude. In relation to real variables related to GDP growth and foreign trade, these variables adjust less quickly than nominal ones.

The Pacific Alliance (PA) arose from a project for economic integration and strategic cooperation between the four member countries – Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia – with the hope of driving competitiveness in the region through specialized production and exportation of assets, and to an extent consolidating them, which would have a strong impact on the process of regional integration within Latin America. Considering this, the purpose of this chapter is to review the current economic scene for regional integration that promotes competition in the countries of the PA. A documentary and statistical investigation are carried out and presented to show the primary advances of the PA in different economic and strategic areas that propel competition among its member countries. The primary findings show that there are economic and commercial indicators that encourage the achievement of a unified perspective and stability between these member countries, which allows for more competitiveness with regard to economic and commercial development in other blocks or alliances. Today, the PA shows itself as an innovative process that seeks and promises to change the economic relations of both the countries involved in it and the region in general, which is the reason for the dynamism shown in decision making and the interest in the international community. It is concluded that the PA responds to the shared interests of the four member countries while being more competitive to take advantage of any opportunities that appear from the opening and incursion of new international markets.

One of the most profitable industries worldwide is automotive manufacturing, with an estimated economic impact of 2.9 trillion dollars, which employs 8% of the economically active world population, both directly and indirectly. The main 12 world powers in the automotive sector account for 80% of the total manufactured vehicles, and Mexico ranks seventh in the world and is part of the free trade agreement in the Pacific Alliance (PA). This fact may have a direct impact on boosting the domestic automotive industry in Mexico by leveraging the manufacturing supply chain in primary and secondary industries in the three commercial partners: Chile, Colombia, and Peru. This chapter found that there is a coincidence in the competitiveness pillars of the Mexican automotive industry and its business partners in the PA. This presents a strategic panorama of competition and economic development for the region.