Trade between Latin America and the Caribbean due to grow in 2025 despite US tariff policy- ECLAC

By Fabian Cambero

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Trade betwixt Latin America and the Caribbean volition apt turn successful 2025 contempt wide U.S. tariffs crossed ​the region, which person had a weaker interaction than initially expected, a study ‌by UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) revealed connected Wednesday.

The ECLAC projected ‌that the worth of the region's exports would emergence by 5% this year, up from 4.5% successful 2024, driven by a 4% summation successful export measurement and a 1% summation successful prices, the study said.

Mexico, the region's main exporter, ⁠is expected to spot a 5%‌ summation successful shipments.

"The interaction of these tariff increases connected the dynamism of planetary commercialized has been little than initially expected, mostly owed ‍to the acceleration of imports and the accumulation of inventories by U.S. companies during the archetypal 4th and the beardown momentum of commercialized betwixt Asian economies," the ECLAC said.

"However, the ​outlook for planetary commercialized successful goods for 2026 is little promising," the bureau warned.

Regional ‌service exports are expected to summation by 8% successful 2025, 1 percent constituent little than past year.

In the archetypal fractional of the year, full commercialized successful goods and services betwixt Latin America and the Caribbean roseate astatine year-on-year rates of 4% for exports and 7% for imports.

On average, prices for the region's main export commodities edged ⁠up 1.7% betwixt January and August 2025,​ contrasting with a 2.1% driblet successful ​the aforesaid play of 2024.

The ECLAC noted that the upward revisions bespeak beardown planetary commercialized momentum successful the archetypal fractional of the year, driven by accelerated ‍imports and inventory buildup ⁠ahead of caller U.S. tariffs.

The portion faces an mean effectual U.S. tariff of 10%, 7 percent points beneath the planetary average.

While determination exports presently ⁠face comparatively little tariffs, that could alteration depending connected commercialized balances and non-economic factors, the study ‌said, urging countries to diversify commercialized relations and deepen determination integration.

(Reporting by ‌Fabian Cambero; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )