EPN travels to Chile to participate in the Pacific Alliance Summit

President Enrique Peña Nieto traveled to Puerto Varas, Chile, to participate in the Pacific Alliance summit, hosted by president Michelle Bachelet.

Other leaders of the region will also participate in the summit, such as Ollanta Humala from Peru and Juan Manuel Santos from Colombia as well as special guests such as Guillermo Solís from Costa Rica, and Mauricio Macri from Argentina.

Peruvian president-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will also be participating in the summit along with more than 500 business people and leaders.

At the summit, Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said that the Pacific Alliance must be "ready to react" to a possible "surprise" in the U.S. presidential election. 

"If we have a surprise in the U.S. election against free trade and the TPP, we must have the ability to create an integration platform," Guajardo said.

"We can not stay frozen before a decision could be difficult and catastrophic. We must think about positive scenarios and the future of the Pacific Alliance," he added.

On Tuesday Donald Trump vowed to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement with the United States if elected. He has also said he would pull the United States out of negotiations for a deal among 12 Pacific Rim nations. 

Member nations of Latin America's Pacific Alliance trade bloc must strengthen their relationships and keep clear of the isolationist path represented by Britain's exit from the European Union, Chile's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

"At a time that seems dominated by the discord and disintegration brought by 'Brexit' and by the lamentable attack in Turkey, what we are doing is constructing realistic, flexible and pragmatic integration," Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz said.

The Pacific Alliance is one of two large trade blocs in Latin America. Member nations Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru have moved to reduce trade tariffs between them since forming the bloc in 2011.

The group represents 38 percent of Latin America's gross domestic product, and starting in May, 90 percent of commerce between its member states has been free of tariffs. That has piqued the interest of nations far outside the bloc, with 49 different observer states eyeing possible trade agreements with the group.

The countries seen closest to becoming integrated into the bloc are Costa Rica and Panama.

(With information from Reuters)