Last april a retooled assembly line complete with 120 new robots at Ford's sprawling factory on the outskirts of Sao Paulo started churning out sporty redesigned Fiesta hatchbacks. By July Ford's Brazilian output was 30% up on a year earlier, thanks in part to the Fiesta's popularity and in part to an unexpected protectionist move by Brazil. Companies such as Ford had been importing cars into Brazil from Mexico at a lower tariff under an agreement between Mexico and Mercosur, a Latin American trade block. But in March 2012 Brazil, fretting over a surge of imports, negotiated a quota on purchases from Mexico. Ford's Brazilian production is up partly because planned imports from Mexico are down.
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