July 5, 1997. The Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement entered into force.

It was Canada’s first comprehensive pact with a major South American nation since NAFTA.

Fifteen years later, the 2013 economic assessment delivered the numbers.

Canadian exports to Chile more than doubled, from $392 million in 1997 to $819 million by 2011. Imports surged six-fold to $1.9 billion.

Bilateral trade grew 12.2 percent faster than it would have without the agreement.

Ninety percent of the export gains came from entirely new products Canada had never sold to Chile before. The number of exported product lines more than doubled.

The report calculated Canada’s overall annual welfare gains at roughly $250 million.

Chile soon signed 18 more free-trade deals, including with the United States, the European Union and China. Those eroded Canada’s original preferences. Yet the new varieties and investment flows endured.

This 1997 pact shows exactly where Canadian trade policy stands today: one deal can unlock markets and deliver lasting gains, until others walk through the same door.