This book focuses on one of the most strategic developments in international trade-the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement-due for completion in 2005. This US initiative aims to replicate the NAFTA Agreement across all 34 countries of South and North America (except Cuba). This volume explains the origins and ongoing process of the negotiations and explains why the US wants to expand its NAFTA model. It makes clear that investment protection, in addition to trade, is at the heart of the new agreement. And it examines in-depth the possible consequences for Mercosur, Brazil, and the region's many small economies.