China is emerging as a truly global economic and political power. China’s impact on Latin America and the Caribbean region is mixed, however—fostering a trade market for some countries, but creating competition for others.

This pioneering volume, produced by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Integration and Regional Programs Department and Research Department, provides a comprehensive overview of China’s economic policy and performance over recent decades and contrasts them with the Latin American experience. What are the underlying factors behind China’s competitive edge? What are the strategic implications of China’s rise for growth and development in Latin America? These questions open new avenues for thinking about revitalizing development strategies in Latin America in the face of China’s successful development and reduction of poverty. This insightful report is a must-read for analysts, policymakers, and development practitioners, not only in Latin America and the Caribbean, but wherever China’s presence is being felt.

The Emergence of China is a copublication of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Where Latin American government leaders once looked at free trade agreements as solely about trade and trading policies, they are increasingly viewing them as the next beacon of hope in the long and arduous road of economic reform.

Integrating the Americas: FTAA and Beyond discusses how these governments have become embroiled in a larger set of issues affecting both institutions. This work, based on a conference sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, examines how this free trade process is surging ahead, while at the same time taking on a broader set of issues including institutional reform, transparency, the environment, labor, and social cohesion. The payoffs to the strategy of liberalization, privatization, and openness have been meager and disappointing to date. Will the FTAA be able to reverse this and allow Latin America to reap the benefits of globalization?