This report 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. With external conditions sluggish and highly uncertain as the global economy still struggles to shake off the effects of the economic crisis of 2008-2009, the Latin American and Caribbean region is not isolated from these effects and is projected to record a small drop in gross domestic product in 2015, followed by a weak recovery in 2016. This edition of the Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy examines how this third consecutive year of increasing declines in regional export values affects the region.