ABSTRACT The election of President Trump, Brexit, and the amplifying of isolationist voices have signaled the possible emergence of a new era – one of retreat in the Liberal International Order. While this is one way of defining the present moment, it does not capture the full picture, as uncertainty has opened and/or widened new partnerships. In this scenario, MERCOSUL (Southern Common Market) has both sought and been sought by a growing number of countries and international organizations, recently (re)launching free trade negotiations with many partners, including Canada. This paper explores the empirical aspects of MERCOSUL’s apparently sudden growth in attractiveness, reflecting external and internal factors, with particular attention to Brazil recent negotiations. The case allows an opportunity to reflect if the world is witnessing indeed an “unravelling” of the multilateralist world order or rather a re-adjustment, whereby increasing diversification is pursued through untraditional and overlooked partnerships. The idea is not to minimize the significant worldwide impacts of the US’ inward-looking trade policies and discourse or deny the growth in appeal to isolationism, but to question whether such positions are still exceptions, or if reports on the open trade system’s death have only been greatly exaggerated.

中文翻译：

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贸易、冲突和机会：利用他人的保护主义和孤立主义——以南方共同市场为例

摘要胜利总统，布雷克特和孤立主义声音的大选选举发出了新的时代可能出现 - 在自由主义国际秩序中的撤退之一。虽然这是定义当前时刻的一种方式，但它并不能捕捉到全貌，因为不确定性已经开启和/或扩大了新的伙伴关系。在这种情况下，MERCOSUL（南方共同市场）寻求并被越来越多的国家和国际组织寻求，最近（重新）启动了与包括加拿大在内的许多合作伙伴的自由贸易谈判。本文探讨了 MERCOSUL 吸引力明显突然增长的经验方面，反映了外部和内部因素，特别关注巴西最近的谈判。这个案例让我们有机会反思世界是否确实正在目睹多边主义世界秩序的“瓦解”，或者更确切地说是重新调整，即通过非传统和被忽视的伙伴关系来追求日益多样化。这个想法不是为了尽量减少美国内向的贸易政策和话语的重大全球影响或否认对孤立主义的吸引力增长，而是质疑这些立场是否仍然是例外，或者关于开放贸易体系死亡的报道是否已经只是被大大夸大了。