TOKYO -- Ahead of a visit by the Brazilian president to Japan next week, and amid an intensifying trade war instigated by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Japanese government is grappling with how and whether to begin negotiations on joining a South American trade bloc.
The Southern Common Market, or Mercosur, is a large economic zone with a population of about 300 million. Its five full members are Brazil and Argentina -- South America's largest and second-largest economic powers -- as well as Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
