Alexander Hirschle’s working life began in an economic area that is still the subject of debate in European politics today: Mercosur. After writing his thesis for his economics degree at the University of Heidelberg on the economic association – with which the EU was already aiming for a free trade agreement at the time – he joined Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), then known as the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade (BFAI), in 1998.