The FTAA and the Political Economy of Protection in Brazil and the U.S.

The interest of specific Latin American economies in the successful completion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations is very heterogeneous. A list of relevant factors to explain such divergences would include geographic orientation of trade, composition of exports, degree of openness of the economy, level of protection and commitment to trade liberalization. Success in the FTAA negotiations depends crucially on the convergence of views between the United States and MERCOSUR, and especially Brazil, in relation to access of goods to their respective domestic markets.