Trade openness provides countries with trade gains thanks to the possibility of transacting
goods and services. In the post-war period, trade agreements intensified, trade protectionism
decreased, and countries began to join multilateral trade agreements and consolidate themselves
into economic blocs. In South America, Mercosur emerged as a Customs Union (1995), with
the proposal to economically integrate South American countries, by eliminating tariff barriers
and adopting a Common External Tariff (TEC). The members of the bloc are Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay and Paraguay. This monograph aims to develop an analysis regarding the evolution of
the degree of trade openness of Mercosur member countries, based on a time frame from 2001
to 2022 of the benefits of trade gains for the relevant countries. The proposed analysis will be
carried out based on three indicators: Degree of Openness (GA), Export Effort (EE), and Import
Dependence (DI). The results indicate that the structural and economic dimensions of the
associated countries are significant. The configuration of the countries that make up the
economic bloc emphasizes the complexity of Mercosur's regional economic integration, where
countries with different population sizes and economic structures face different challenges in
the search for economic convergence. It was found that Paraguay and Uruguay have a greater
degree of openness in relation to larger economies and that Brazil predominates as the main
economic partner in intra-bloc trade.
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