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Surprise: Both US, Chile win big with free trade (Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald)

While few people in this capital seem to care about anything that doesn't start with the letter ''I'' -- Iraq, Iran, Israel -- there is a little-known development on the trade front that should be making big headlines: The first-year figures for the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement show extraordinary results.

Contrary to the dire predictions of protectionists in the U.S. Congress and anti-free-trade television pundits, who claim that free trade agreements with Latin America cause U.S. job losses and a widening trade deficit, a small line buried in just-released U.S. government trade figures for 2004 shows that U.S. exports to Chile rose 37 percent last year.

And contrary to Latin American antiglobalization champions, who say free trade hurts Latin American countries, Chile's exports to the United States rose 31 percent last year. The South American country still maintains a substantial trade surplus with the United States.

In other words, both sides have significantly increased their bilateral trade -- by about $1 billion each -- since the free trade deal went into effect Jan. 1, 2004.