Impact of Colombia's trade agreements with the United States and the Andean Community of Nations on the sustainability of the Colombian corn industry between 2012 and 2016

Abstract

Trade agreements between countries, as a concept, represent a window for the development of the general well-being of nations, the transfer of technology and the exploitation of the comparative and competitive advantages of the actors. However, the political and business objectives blur the purpose of these tools, not only from the moment they are signed, but in the followed policy actions adopted to support the different sectors that could be violated. The maize agro-industrial chain represents a very important phase for the country's food security, since this is a fundamental input for thousands of products in different industries, and fundamentally in the production of food source of energy and protein for humans. This work constitutes a first step in understanding the importance of the maize agro-industrial chain and the effects of trade agreements that affect it the most, since they expose their actors to competition with the most efficient producers of this kind of grain throughout the world: United States of America, Argentina and Brazil.