The MERCOSUR and the Creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas

The objective of the project that gives rise to the present book is to analyze the economic incentives, on the social and on the private level, of the different alternatives for trade liberalization. That is to say, information is processed to deeply understand the different negotiation scenarios, the bilateral as against the plurilateral alternative, considering aggregated as well as particular national interests in each country/region. The integration process involves many subjects (the harmonization of domestic policies on competition, environmental and labor standards, intellectual property, and so on) and sectors (now including services). Although many of these issues are mentioned and discussed, the focus here is on the changes in market access associated with the proposed liberalization of the trade opening for goods, the area in which MERCOSUR has its clearest interest.