ABSTRACT
This chapter examines international business activity in Latin America, from Mexico in the north to Argentina and Chile in the south. The structure of this chapter follows a fairly standard format of examining first the legal business drivers in which international business takes place in Latin America, followed by legal analysis by country and, to a limited extent, by industry sector, and by issue. The overarching goal is to identify and clarify the legal drivers that are central to international business in Latin America at the start of the twenty-first century. Today, Latin America is the fourth largest region in the world in measures of international business, trailing the United States and Canada, the European Union (EU), and East Asia. International trade of Latin American countries amounted to over $300 billion in 1998, and incoming foreign direct investment was over $70 billion in 1998, trailing the United States and Canada, the European Union, and East Asia. Latin America with its oil wealth, population, and ecology is emerging as a growing international player, and proper regulatory governance is the key to capitalizing on those assets.
