The EU-Mercosul free trade agreement: Quantifying mutual gains

We identify trade in goods opportunities in a EU-Mercosul free trade area. Gains for Mercosul are rather concentrated, being mostly associated to a few agricultural commodities nowadays facing high protection barriers. EU gains are evenly spread, comprising a variety of market penetration possibilities. Trade deviation by the EU products is never higher than trade creation, confirming their international competitiveness and signalling that a great distortion of Mercosul’s imports won’t take place. Balanced gains exist for both sides; for Mercosul, the agreement can act as a first serious trial for future liberalisations with other developed partners, and as a warning on needed competitiveness improvements.

Global governance, currency and trade: implications of one on the other, common problems and how to address cooperation through law at the international level

How to deal with the impacts of the exchange rate on the trade balance of Brazil? There is not a single answer to such question. In order to find out some legal approaches for this matter, this paper aims to describe and analyze the role of the IMF, WTO and the governments of Brazil and the United States on the currency misalignments, especially the extraterritorial effects of such misalignment on the Brazil’s bilateral trade with the United States. The article concludes that the Currency Swap Agreements and other bilateral solutions may minimize the distortions that the Brazilian balance of payment against the USA is carrying, due to the lack of legal solutions for the problem of the exchange rate misalignments that Brazil is facing.