How many countries are in Mercosur?

What does Mercosur stand for?

The Mercosur Trade Agreement is an agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

It is a free trade agreement with the members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay), that will replace the current free trade agreement with the United States. The Agreement was signed on December 12, 2025 and entered into force in 2025. In accordance with article 2 of the Agreement, the Agreement has the aim of achieving a stable, fair, and orderly liberalization of trade between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The new Free Trade Agreement will have a significant impact on the national economies of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, especially in the industrial sector. According to recent estimates, the Agreement may increase Argentine exports by nearly 100 billion dollars, while Brazilian exports may increase by more than 400 billion dollars. These increases are even more significant when taking into account the fact that Brazil's economy is currently the second largest in Latin America, behind Mexico's. This is only a small part of the economic gains that the Mercosur Agreement will bring to its four member countries. As part of the process of entering into the Agreement, these countries also committed to diversifying their imports.

What are the objectives of the Mercosur Trade Agreement? The objectives of the Mercosur Trade Agreement are to strengthen political cooperation among the Mercosur countries, to improve their competitiveness, to promote the exchange of goods and services, to improve the quality and efficiency of products and services, to expand trade in the region, to encourage investment in the region, to improve the flow of goods and services between Mercosur countries, to reduce tariffs, and to increase trade among Mercosur countries. How is the Mercosur Trade Agreement different from the current Free Trade Agreement with the United States? Under the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, goods produced in one country are allowed to be imported into the other without being subjected to tariffs. However, this has been an issue of dispute between the United States and Latin American countries. This was not the case with the Mercosur Trade Agreement. Under the Mercosur Trade Agreement, products from one Mercosur country are allowed to enter the other Mercosur countries duty-free.

What is the main goal of Mercosur?

Is it to have a trade union or to have a political entity?

I am not here to ask you that question. I have already heard your opinion on it. But would you just agree that Mercosur is an umbrella of free trade between the member countries in Latin America and South America? I think this is a good starting point for the exchange, for the discussion.

You said there are two things: one is a free trade agreement and the other is a political entity. Which one do you prefer? And which one do you believe will be more effective? Yes, but it is always a political tool to solve problems. If it's only a free trade, if you're only exchanging goods, you have a common product, you have the same interests. But if you have some social agenda, some political agenda, you have a problem.

But if you don't have that, there is nothing that stops you from exchanging any goods, even if they are very different. So it's better not to talk about it. But what we have now is that we exchange goods, but we don't have the political agenda, it's just "there", it's not discussed. That's why I find it very difficult to accept, as a European, the creation of Mercosur. We talk about a lot of things, we are united, we have a common foreign policy, but when it comes to economics, we are very different. The European Union is more open to the world and more free, than South America. In fact, we talk more with China than we do with the USWe talk more with Japan, Canada, the European Union, we talk about the environment, but we are very distant. If you have a common objective, it's better to have a political entity that is talking about the common objective. But we don't have that today.

If you had that, maybe it wouldn't be necessary for the whole bloc to unite, because you could negotiate with the US or with the EU alone, or any other country. Why not? Because we are going to meet with Brazil in the next year, why don't we go ahead and solve the problem today, and we're united. In my opinion, we have a great opportunity to take a step forward, but we are discussing a project that creates problems, and I think we are making mistakes.

Where is the headquarters of Mercosur?

The first question to ask yourself about the relationship between Brazil and Argentina, both historically and now, is why is it necessary to begin to talk about these two countries?

One of the most important issues for humanity in the 21st century is the relationship between Brazil and Argentina. Why talk about two countries that have, more or less, been allied from the beginning of our history, but with very different political systems? We have two countries who want to work together, we have two countries that are allies, we have two countries that can count on the cooperation of the United States in their struggle to defend and protect our interests. We have two countries that, in this continent, are in a process of unification and integration, while we have others that are resisting such a process. We have two countries that have many resources, including energy.

Brazil has an economy the size of Europe, and Argentina has one the size of Africa. These two countries could be able to do a lot together.

But we need to stop talking about a problem that is already solved. Argentina and Brazil have a common destiny as a great nation. We are brothers and sisters, we are people that need to help each other.

What about the economic relationship between the two countries? We are at a time when both Brazil and Argentina are in very strong economies. Argentina is currently in third place in the world's economies. Brazil is now number five, we have both grown rapidly in recent years.

Argentina is the region's number one exporter of goods, in second place is Brazil. Both countries have also developed a large productive sector. This is not lost on the Americans, nor the Europeans. The American embassy here in Argentina was recently moved to Braslia.

Are we seeing any political progress in relations between the two countries? You mentioned the United States. We are now in the seventh year of the American presidency of a right-wing government.

It is no coincidence that when there are two governments that come from the same right and that want to build close relations, then they do everything possible to promote those relations. I know what the majority of Argentineans think about politics and politics, and I know the majority of Argentines are pro-American and pro-capitalist.