U.S. policies favoring the passage and implementation of the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) and its impact on cooperative security in the Western Hemisphere. An example of this type of impact on cooperative security can be seen with the fifteen European countries that make up the European Union. These countries have entered into a new era of economic adjustment, integration, and cooperation. Additionally, with the passage of Mercosur in 1991, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil have also established their own free trade zone, and lowered barriers to the free flow of goods among them and have cooperated greater on security issues.