Significance: Brazil and Mexico account for nearly two-thirds of Latin America’s GDP between them and more than half of the region’s exports, but bilateral annual trade was just US$8.42bn in 2015, up a mere 26%, from US$6.71bn, over the previous decade. Relations between the region’s two economic powerhouses have been complicated by Brazil’s trade protectionism, which contrasts starkly with Mexico’s commitment to promoting free trade. Brazil’s suspended president, Dilma Rousseff, took more than three years to visit Mexico after taking office for the first time in 2011, being far more inward-looking and committed to the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc. But since Serra became foreign minister last May following his appointment by interim president Michel Temer, he has been much more outward-looking and has spoken warmly rather than warily of the Pacific Alliance trade bloc comprising Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
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