Presidential meetings of the South American Mercosur alliance were usually sedate affairs — until Uruguay decided to “open up to the world” under its pro-business leader Luis Lacalle Pou.

Hard at work negotiating new trade deals outside the regional bloc since taking office in March 2020, Lacalle Pou’s ambitions are running up against the other Mercosur members who are closing ranks on Uruguay, as political alliances shift.

Those tensions were on display at the Mercosur summit in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo in December. There were accusations of foul play and unsportsmanlike tactics on news that Uruguay had independently applied to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) days previously, an 11-member trade alliance including Australia and Japan. This followed separate bilateral trade talks with China and Turkey earlier this year.