Mercosur and Preferential Trade Liberalization in South America: Record, Issues and Prospects

Abstract

Mercosur is a customs union encompassing 50 per cent of the population, 58 per cent of the gross domestic product and 40 per cent of the total foreign trade of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (Table 2.1).1 The four Mercosur countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, have a population of 200 million and an aggregate GDP of over US$800 billion. In 1994 their total foreign trade was over US$117 billion.