MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and Japan sign wide ranging free trade agreement

Japan and Chile sealed a free trade deal Tuesday by which Chile will have zero tariff access for virtually all its exportable goods including copper, fish, tea and wine.

The agreement was signed in Tokyo by Chile's Foreign Secretary Alejandro Foxley and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso and is part of Santiago's longstanding strategy of signing free trade agreements with the world's leading powers. For Japan it's the second of its kind with a Latinamerican country, the first was with Mexico in 2005. The treaty reduces tariffs on the majority of goods traded by the two countries but will not extend to sensitive farm produce such as rice, wheat and sugar given the strong lobby of Japanese farmers. "By accelerating and developing a strategic economic alliance in various fields between Japan and Chile, Japan expects that both our economies will be vitalized markedly" said a spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Tariffs for Chile's salmon and different meats will drop gradually while Japan will be able to export automobiles free of levies. Japan exported to Chile 300 million US dollars in cars last year. Chile will benefit with wines, fish produce including fish meal and industrial goods. According to the latest official figures Chilean exports to Japan in 2005 totaled 4.5 billion US dollars while Japanese sales 941 million US dollars. However half of Chilean exports to Japan are copper. Chile has free trade agreements with at least fifty countries including United States, European Union, China and South Korea.