This article analyzes the impact of the insertion on international trade over the changes experimented by the State's role in political economy, in 20 Latin American countries between 1970 and 2014. Data sets were treated by and studied through Time-Series Cross Section analyses. The results show the persistence over time of patterns of Latin America's economic structure, such as the importance of natural resources in the state's revenue. Besides, the article shows the importance of international agreements that liberalize trade policy over the reinforcement of the evolution of the State's economic role.