{"podcast":{"title":"Latin America in Focus","slug":"latin-america-in-focus-50000","podcast_index_feed_id":50000,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/_DUdLkxj","website_url":"https://www.as-coa.org/podcast","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/0f4ff6c8-4785-4f1f-b924-d27657704f2d/e33b7fb1-d25f-48bd-9353-27d67b7cd942/3000x3000/latinamericainfocus3000x3000.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"AS/COA Online","episode_count":242,"summary":"Latin America in Focus is the leading English-language podcast on Latin American politics, economics, and policy. What does AI's tectonic change mean for Latin America? Are youth losing faith in democracy? Can the region power up its lithium and critical minerals prospects? Will security or foreign policy influence elections? Latin America in Focus (or LatAmFocus) takes on topics like these, giving context to the big issues affecting the Americas today. Twice a month, Americas Society / Council of the Americas Online team brings you in-depth interviews with top experts, journalists, artists, and entrepreneurs on the ground in and from countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and more. Go in depth on the latest trends in Latin American politics, regional trade and economics, foreign policy, and culture in this podcast series by Americas Society/Council of the Americas.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-17T14:22:56.144877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000"},"episode":{"title":"Mercosur, EU, and the New Frontiers of Free Trade","slug":"mercosur-eu-and-the-new-frontiers-of-free-trade","published_at":"2026-04-30T06:13:27+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000/mercosur-eu-and-the-new-frontiers-of-free-trade","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000","url":"https://www.as-coa.org/articles/latam-focus-mercosur-eu-and-new-frontiers-free-trade","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.simplecast.com/media/audio/transcoded/429ebae3-f140-408d-a05b-f7961641ed36/5a178289-28ad-46e7-8146-1f8fbe6c0550/episodes/audio/group/30d0d97c-fb23-4ddb-9acc-52dd377f4c35/group-item/42d75790-b859-4888-841e-5892d9904f4c/128_default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=_DUdLkxj","summary":"On May 1, a transatlantic trade deal covering 31 countries and a quarter of global GDP comes into effect. Some thought it would never materialize, but after 25 years of off-and-on negotiations, Mercosur and the European Union committed to one of the largest free-trade deals in the world. So why did the two trade blocs to sign on the dotted line? “ The reality is that today, given the approach that the United States is taking on trade policy, it really is nudging countries [...] to go ahead and take those risks. Because the risk of doing nothing is much higher than the risk of doing something,\" says trade expert Kellie Meiman Hock, a senior counselor at McLarty Associates and advisor to COA's Trade Advisory Group. In her return to the podcast, Meiman Hock explains how recent U.S. trade policy spurred Mercosur and other countries across the hemisphere to diversify their commercial relationships. She also covers the wrinkles left for the South American and European trade blocs to iron out in the agreement, and other deals in the pipeline as countries search for stability in a trade landscape she describes to AS/COA Online’s Luisa Leme as “completely unexplored territory.”","meta_description":"On May 1, a transatlantic trade deal covering 31 countries and a quarter of global GDP comes into effect. Some thought it would never materialize, but aft…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1974,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/latin-america-in-focus-50000/episodes/mercosur-eu-and-the-new-frontiers-of-free-trade/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000/mercosur-eu-and-the-new-frontiers-of-free-trade.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}