FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
FACT SHEET: The United States and Chile
Today, Vice President Joe Biden is in Chile to attend the inauguration of President-Elect Michelle Bachelet. The Vice President’s visit will underscore the long-standing close ties between the United States and Chile, and highlight our cooperation in the following areas:
Free Trade Agreement: The U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement continues to benefit both nations. Bilateral trade in goods grew to $28 billion in 2013, which makes Chile our 29th largest goods trading partner overall and our fourth largest export partner in the Americas. U.S. goods exports to Chile totaled $17.6 billion last year, representing an increase of 548 percent since the Agreement was signed in 2004.
Trans-Pacific Partnership: The United States and Chile are two of the twelve participants negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will be a comprehensive, high-standard, next-generation trade agreement. Once concluded, the TPP will cover roughly 40 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). All of the participants stand to benefit from a successful and speedy conclusion of TPP negotiations.
Multilateral Issues: The United States looks forward to consulting closely with Chile as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and member of the UN Human Rights Council. President Obama and President-Elect Bachelet launched our Trilateral Development Cooperation initiative in 2009, and we’ve worked together in countries as diverse as El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic on matters as diverse as agriculture, assisting at-risk youth, and security cooperation.
Visa Waiver Program: On February 28th, Chile was designated the 38th country to participate in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Chile’s designation is a testament to our strong relations and its participation will have a tremendous impact in creating even stronger people-to-people ties between our countries. It should also facilitate other potential initiatives to expedite trade and travel. During his visit, the Vice President announced the implementation would be moved up from May 1st to March 31st.
100,000 Strong in the Americas: During his March 2011 visit to Chile, President Obama launched the “100,000 Strong in the Americas” initiative to increase educational exchange across the Americas. Chile has already created three partnerships between U.S. and Chilean universities to increase student exchange. There are currently more than 3,000 U.S. students studying in Chile and more than 2,000 Chileans at American universities. In January, the Vice President launched the initiative’s #InvestintheFuture campaign to start an online conversation between students, governments, and business about international education.
