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Many South Americans see Mercosur as a useful bulwark against the encroachment of the United States in the region, either in the form of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (a continent-wide successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement) or in the form of bilateral treaties, such as that currently being negotiated with Chile. But Mercosur was signficantly weakened by the collapse of the Argentine economy in 2002, and indeed some critics believe the refusal of the Bush administration to bail out Argentina was based on its desire to undermine Mercosur, which it saw as a threat to its divide-and-conquer strategy for maintaining its dominance the economies of Latin America.
Mercosur - The name comes from the Spanish words Mercado (market) and Sur (south).
Mercosul - The name comes from the Portuguese words Mercado (market) and Sul (south).