Free Trade Agreement Peru – European Union: Importance and Positive Impact for Peru

Abstract

El trabajo explora los potenciales riesgos y beneficios económicos y políticos del Tratado de Libre Comercio entre el Perú y la Unión Europea para el Perú, implementado el 1 de marzo de 2013. Esta tesis evalúa estos temas desde la teoría y análisis de resultados de otros tratados similares, ya que al momento de realizarse aún no hay información contundente sobre los resultados. Asimismo, explora la necesidad de implementar políticas y estrategias coherentes para maximizar beneficios y minimizar riesgos.

Fostering trade by reducing legal and economic barriers is seen as a major driver to the development of a country and its development. In the most recent decades, many developing (or third world) countries have joined the trend and have relied on this strategy to travel the path to becoming developed economies. Nonetheless, many of these countries do not have the economic and political infrastructure to become competitive and their growth ends up relying on a non-developed trade: export of raw materials and import of industrial products. It is true that trading is the only way to grow as a country, but how beneficial can it be for a developing economy to start trading with a major established world economic force? The purpose of this research is to analyze this situation for the recently signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the European Union: to what extent it is important for Peru and its development and to what extent it could be counterproductive.