This book resulted from a convergence of initiatives conducted by two institutions concerned with the prospects for regional trade integration in the Western Hemisphere: the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (LAP/WWIC) and Red de Investigaciones Económicas del Mercosur (Red-Mercosur). The Wilson Center has been paying close attention to the steps toward regional trade and integration following the launch of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) initiative in 1994. Since then, the Latin American Program and since 2000, its project Brazil @ The Wilson Center have hosted a number of seminars on regional integration and the Mercosur, the role of Latin America within the international system, and Brazilian and Argentine approaches to international trade. We have also published three books on the subject: Latin America in the New International System (2000), Paths to Regional Integration: The Case of Mercosur (2002) and The Strategic Dynamics of Latin American Trade (2004)

MercoNet Series N° 1 Mercosur, and Argentina and Brazil in particular, have been important centers for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) during the 1990s. For this reason, the presence of transnational companies has grown substantially in the four Mercosur countries. When the participation of the transnational branches in external sales and trade structures is considered, these economies rank among the most ?transnationalized? in the world.