TLC

m.

NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement.

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SM ABR

= Tratado de Libre Comercio NAFTA

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TLC

feminine

(Com) (= Tratado de Libre Comercio) FTA

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TLC nm (abrev de Tratado de Libre Comercio)

[en general] free trade agreement; [NAFTA] NAFTA

TLC

The best known TLC (“Tratado de Libre Comercio” or “Free Trade Agreement”) in the Western hemisphere is the NAFTA agreement – also known as the TLCAN (“Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte”) in Spanish – between the USA, Mexico and Canada, which came into force in January 1994. However, the number of such agreements is growing. For example, Mexico has separate agreements with the EU, Nicaragua, Chile and Israel, among others, while Chile in turn also has agreements with the EU, Korea and with the USA. There are also other regional economic organizations such as CAN (“Comunidad Andina de Naciones” or “Andean Community”) and Mercosur (“Mercado Común del Sur” or “Southern Common Market”). The economic and social effects of such agreements are likely to remain controversial, and it is not clear how they would relate to the “Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas” or ALCA (“Free Trade Area of the Americas” or FTAA), which has been proposed by the United States. This US-backed initiative would eventually lead to the economic integration of the entire hemisphere, but although negotiations have been going on for several years, ALCA has yet to be established, partly because of disagreements between countries about how to proceed, and partly because of popular opposition within countries.

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TLC

m abr (= Tratado de Libre Comercio) NAFTA (= North American Free Trade Agreement)