Brazil, Europe plan undersea cable to skirt U.S. spying

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Brazil and the European Union agreed on Monday to lay an undersea communications cable from Lisbon to Fortaleza to reduce Brazil's reliance on the United States after Washington spied on Brasilia.

Brazil Posts Smallest Trade Surplus Since 2000 on Surging Imports

Brazil barely exported more than it imported in 2013, the worst trade performance by Latin America’s largest economy in more than a decade as strong consumer spending boosted imports and weak global demand eroded exports, an imbalance that could create problems for President Dilma Rousseff this year as she strives to prod growth ahead of elections.

Uruguay: South America's New Zealand?

Uruguay has always had to struggle for attention, wedged between two much larger political and economic powers. But it has consistently beaten expectations time and again.

Tables turned, EU seeks free trade deals in Latin America

Although the Latin American-European trade summit hosted in Chile’s capital this past weekend commanded less attention than the World Economic Forum in Davos, the summit in Santiago highlighted a growing rift in Latin America on the question of free trade.

Venezuela joins Mercosur trading bloc

Venezuela has joined Mercosur, six years after first applying to join the South American trading bloc.

Brazil loosing industry to Mercosur members with cheaper costs and lower taxes

The strong growth of the Brazilian economy, almost to full capacity, and the Super Real have Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay increasingly attracting Brazilian companies while factories and jobs are lost to Mercosur members, complain industry leaders.

“Business missions sent by the governments of Uruguay, Paraguay and other Latin American countries are frequently visiting Brazil and meeting with associations from the different industrial sectors with the purpose of attracting them to invest in their countries. The bait is not the potential of local markets but more competitive costs than in Brazil”, said Raquel Landim in a piece for O Estado de Sao Paulo.