So you think trade negotiations are all about lowering tariffs on imports?

Think again.

Television programming, medical services, new drugs and even the way local, state and federal governments do their buying and contracting are all potentially on the table in the state-of-the-art free trade agreements being negotiated around the world.

Last week negotiators were in Miami, and the five days of talks aimed at creating a U.S.-Andean Free Trade Agreement offered a rare look at the kinds of practical issues -- big and small, general and technical -- that go into trade negotiations.

The talks included the United States, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, while Bolivia participated only as an observer.

The actual trade negotiations were closed to the public and press but there were ways to find out what was going on. While U.S. trade negotiators offered few details on the talks, Latin American trade officials briefed large contingents of Latin reporters on the scope and state of the talks.

Officials often talk about free trade in sweeping generalities, but this up-close look at the Andean negotiations showed that no detail or definition is too small or too obscure for such talks.

SUBTLE POINTS

Trade talks go well beyond discussions of imports and exports. They are where definitions and details are worked out -- and sometimes the topics are quite arcane. They are not the kind of discussions one might have at the breakfast table.

One of the biggest obstacles facing these kinds of negotiations is how to define ``Made in ...''

Are tuna caught by Ecuadorean fishers on a ship with a foreign flag really Ecuadorean tuna? How much of the leather or rubber that goes into a shoe must be produced in Colombia before the footwear can carry the label ``Made in Colombia?''

At another point, talk turned to television programming and movies. Many countries, eyeing the power of Hollywood and the U.S. television industry, want to be able to keep exemptions for their cultural industries. ''U.S. negotiators are concerned about us reserving the right to set aside a quota for domestically produced movies [for showing] in our movie theaters,'' said Chief Colombian Trade Negotiator Hernando José Gómez.

This would mean that Colombia could insist that a percentage of all films shown in movie theaters would be Colombian productions.

The Colombian official said that currently Colombia does not have such a quota in place, but wanted to keep the possibility on its books.

Such cultural reserves are anathema to the Motion Picture Association of America.

Gómez said the Andean countries would be allowed to keep quotas for domestically produced television programming, however.

Still, up in the air is what the quota should be. Currently 30 percent of programming is set aside for domestic production in Peru, but in Colombia the quota rises to 70 percent. A trade treaty will work to harmonize those varying levels.

HEALTH INSURANCE

In another non-tariff matter, Colombia wants to ease U.S. restrictions on American health insurance so that Colombian doctors or facilities could offer their cheaper domestic services to Colombians residing in the United States.

The meeting, held at the Hotel InterContinental in downtown Miami, was the 11th round of negotiations and took place well past the target date of last January that was set for completing the Andean talks.

One reason for the delay is that the three South American countries wanted to start with a clean slate, eschewing the existing Central American Free Trade Agreement as the starting point for their negotiations.

At the end of the week, Ecuador and the United States remained far apart on the issue of which canned tuna should be labeled ``Made in Ecuador.''

Oswaldo Molestina Zavala, the chief Ecuadorean negotiator, said the origin of tuna caught by Ecuadorean fishermen shouldn't be linked to the flag a ship flies. ''Half of our fishing is with foreign flag ships,'' Molestina said. ``We want free access for our canned tuna.''

FINE TUNING

''This is one of our significant sensitivities,'' said Bennett M. Harman, deputy chief U.S. negotiator. ``There's a great deal of tailoring that goes on in market access negotiations.''

Even the negotiators themselves seemed aware that their work and the issues they take up are something of a mystery to the public. ''It is difficult to pinpoint what those issues are because of the technical nature of the discussion,'' said Pablo de la Flor, the chief Peruvian negotiator.