Reviews international and regional developments from a trade perspective, describing the principal global economic trends and structural changes in international trade, the main areas of trade growth and the changes these drive in the region.

In its 2022 edition, this ECLAC annual report examines the foreign trade performance of the region’s economies during the year. It consists of three chapters. The first examines recent developments in global and regional trade amid the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, record-high inflation rates, the global economic slowdown, geopolitical tensions and the difficulties faced by China in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter II presents an overview of the region’s foreign trade in manufactures in the past three decades, with particular emphasis on its export performance. Chapter III discusses the profound disruptions observed in global shipping supply chains since the onset of the pandemic, which have been exacerbated by the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

This report presents the main trends of international trade of the region’s economies during the last year, with the most recent figures available on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the different countries of the region. It is composed of three chapters that review the evolution of global and regional trade after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, analyze the evolution of intraregional trade with a long-term view, and examine how international trade can contribute to gender equality when accompanied by adequate policies.