Chile seeks free trade with China

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos announced on Tuesday that his country could sign a free trade agreement with China as soon as November. Such an agreement would join together the world’s biggest producer of copper with the biggest consumer of that metal.

Twenty-five percent of Chile’s trade is conducted with Asian countries. Chile already has a free-trade agreement with South Korea and it is looking at negotiating such an agreement with Japan.

A final series of talks with China toward the agreement will take place in October, and if the talks conclude in a deal it will be the first full free-trade agreement China has been party to.

With growth of over 6 percent expected this year, Chile’s economy is seeing great success on the back of exports of such products as copper, fertilizer, and wood pulp. Mr. Lagos said that his goal is to make Chile a trade platform between Asian and Latin America.

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