Since the mid-1990s, the two regional trade agreements in South America, the southern Mercosur Pact (among Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), and the northern Andean Pact (among Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru) noticeably affected certain trade patterns between the two pacts' members and with the United States for various reasons discussed herein. The effect of trade diversion owing to the Andean Pact with its common external tariff and price band system against non-Andean products was examined for soybean and soybean meal imports into Venezuela historically an important market for U.S. products. As well, the recent combining of Mercosur and Andean nations into a single regional trade agreement is likely to further adversely affect... |