Argentina finalizes MERCOSUR trade deal with Israel.

[pampango]

Argentina became the last South American MERCOSUR countries to sign onto a regional free trade agreement with Israel. With Argentina finally signing the agreement, Israel can now freely trade with the bloc with no restrictions.

The MERCOSUR, a political and economic consortium, consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are currently associate members of MERCOSUR.)

With the gradual expiration of the tariffs prescribed by the free trade agreement, Israeli officials are very optimistic that trade with the bloc will increase substantially.

Brazil, the largest regional economy, expects to triple its trade with Israel by 2015. Its US$1.35 billion in trade last year increased from US$922 million in 2009.

http://www.port2port.com/Index.asp?CategoryID=46&ArticleID=2984

The Mercosur trade bloc's purpose, as stated in the 1991 Treaty of Asunción, is to allow for free trade between member states, with the ultimate goal of full South American economic integration. The trade bloc's "grand aspiration is to unify the Southern Cone and then all of South America in an economic bloc...

The population of Mercosur's full members totals more than 270 million people. That group, including Venezuela, has a collective GDP of $2.4 trillion. It is now the world's fourth-largest trading bloc after the European Union (EU), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Whether any reduction in poverty can be linked directly to Mercosur trade policies is unclear. However, Brazil's deputy UN envoy, Piragibe Tarragô, said in late 2006 that poverty reduction within Mercosur countries "has been remarkable."

Mercosur's blockage of the FTAA and its general disinterest in trade with the United States has discouraged warm relations between the two. While the United States has not overtly criticized Mercosur, Washington views the bloc "as being an obstacle to the expansion of their trade in Latin America. They find it an annoyance," according to Wheeler. Roett agrees. "It's viewed here in Washington as an anti-American entity," he says.

http://www.cfr.org/trade/mercosur-south-americas-fractious-trade-bloc/p12762