#222564 ESAF - 2013 - Ajudante de Despachante Aduaneiro

Question refer to the following text:

In 1991, when Brazil joined three of its neighbours to found Mercosur, the pact was hailed as South America’s answer to European integration. It is a mark of its failure that, 20 years after the bloc began negotiating with the EU, Brasília is now trying to do its own deal with Brussels.

In part, Mercosur has been a victim of circumstance. It was hoped that a single market would prepare the region’s companies for global competition. But its institutions were in their infancy when economic crisis in Argentina altered the terms of trade and resulted in a vicious cycle of protectionism and retaliation. The squabbling has continued ever since. Unsurprisingly, this fragile alliance has signed few deals with outsiders.

The grand ambitions of this South American project have also fallen victim to protectionist tendencies. Meanwhile, the zero-sum attitude that the biggest developing countries brought to the Doha round of trade negotiations, along with western intransigence on agricultural subsidies, contributed to a stalemate on multilateral trade liberalisation.

Mercosur has now degenerated as a political forum. Last year Paraguay was expelled, ostensibly in protest at the abrupt ouster of the country’s president. The real purpose, however, may have been to circumvent Paraguayan opposition to the admission of socialist Venezuela. To many, the group has become little more than an anti-gringo talking shop.

Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bd879934-04c2-11e3-9ffd-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2jywjRpV8 (retrieved on 7/11/2013, slightly adapted)

The text concludes that the South American trade bloc