On June 6, 2003, the United States and Chile signed a long anticipated bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in Miami, Florida, concluding a 14-round negotiation process that began on December 6, 2000. Following hearings before the House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, and both Judiciary Committees, the House passed the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Implementation Act (H.R. 2738) by a vote of 270 to 156, followed by the Senate one week later, 66 to 31. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on September 3, 2003 (P.L. 108-77) and it will take effect on January 1, 2004. Chile has now joined a select group of only five other countries that have an FTA with the United States (Canada, Mexico, Jordan, Singapore, and Israel). Although many point to the potential for trade growth between the two countries, the significance of this FTA runs deeper: 1) it is the first agreement with a South American country; 2) it is an agreement with one of the most open and reformed economies in Latin America; 3) it exemplifies how trade policy issues, including those with social and economic implications, can be resolved between a small developing country and a large developed one; and, ...