ABSTRACT
The feasibility of regional integration thus depends upon both the willingness and the capacity of participating nation-states—upon their goals, their strategies, and their resources. This chapter explores the issues in the context of Uruguay and Argentina. For Argentina and Uruguay, the creation of the Common Market of the South through the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 has presented one of the most important economic and political challenges of the 1990s. Plausible scenarios for the future of continental integration for Argentina and Uruguay will depend upon their sources of supply as well as the convergence of their integration strategies. A critical determinant for Argentina derives from the fact that its principal trade partners are Brazil and the United States. Medium-term prospects for economic relations between Argentina, Uruguay, and Asia are generally encouraging. The increase of Asian imports to Uruguay and Argentina has exacerbated trade deficits in the two countries and has worsened the situation of the export sector.
